Author Archives: Tim Marron

Guest Review #0015: Manta Ray

Posted by Tim Marron in Guest Reviews and tagged with , ,

MANTA RAY

BEAST WARS (McDONALD’S)

MantaRay

I’m sure most people remember being a kid and asking their parents to go to McDonald’s, not for the food, but because that month there was a cool toy that came with a Happy Meal. When I was just a wee babby Tim, Beast Wars (an offshoot of the Transformers brand) was my jam, so you can imagine the incessant begging that went on when I found out it was that month’s theme. Today I’ll be looking at one of my favorite McDonald’s toys I ever had, Manta Ray. Let’s dive right in, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

First off, let me apologize for that pun, I’ve been informed that it was, in fact, terrible. Moving on, Manta Ray was released as part of McDonald’s 1996 Beast Wars promotion. She is based on, well, nothing really since she was effectively created to be a McDonald’s toy primarily. Despite her name, in Beast Mode, she is actually a mobula ray, those damn imposters. She stands about 3 inches tall fully transformed as a robot, although you can make her a little taller by leaving the beast head up. She has 6 points of articulation which is a little low for a Transformer, but it’s a McDonald’s toy, the bar can only be set so high. The sculpt is, again, what you’d expect from this kind of toy and nothing more. The legs look like legs, the arms look like arms. The head and torso are basically just blocks with some detailing, which is fine except that this is supposed to be a female character and the body does nothing to even suggest that maybe perhaps Manta Ray is not a dude. Although this may have something to do with how, in Japan, she is actually a he. Her face also looks like the front of a truck, but I guess she’s a robot so I’ll overlook that. The paint is sparse but acceptable with just a bit of bleed over on the gloves. Manta Ray comes with no accessories. It’s not a great figure by any stretch of the imagination, but you have to remember where it came from, and as a McDonald’s toy, it’s not bad at all.

 THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As you’ve probably guessed, I got Manta Ray at a McDonald’s right alongside my chicken nuggets. I do recall being a little disappointed that I didn’t get the Rhinox toy, but retrospectively, I’m kind of glad I didn’t. Manta rays are clearly way cooler that rhinos. Besides, for a Beast Wars junkie kid, this figure easily met its fun quota which is all that really matters anyway.

Guest Review #0014: Isa – v1

Posted by Tim Marron in Guest Reviews and tagged with , ,

ISA v.1

INFINITY BLADE COLLECTIBLES

IsaV1c

Today’s review is written by Tim Marron.  Check out more from Tim over at Tim’s Blarg and Timsical Thoughts.  Take it away Tim!

When it comes to fighting Deathless and their hordes of daeril, brute strength will only get you so far. Sometimes you need a little finesse to get the job done. Cue Siris’ sprightly feminine counterpart, Isa, to twist some necks. She also happens to be the second figure I’ll be reviewing in my growing collection of Infinity Blade figures.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

IsaV1aAlthough her debut appearance was in Infinity Blade 2, Isa was not playable as a character until the third game. Her figures are based on the many possible wardrobe options in IB3. This version, in the small size, has her equipped with the Perconis helm, Forbidden Armor, Illorium (sometimes Ellorium) sword, and Honor Guard brace striking the “Zenith” pose. Like Siris, Isa’s sculpt is basically dead on, being taken from the game’s models. Certain areas like the ribbon on her helmet and the wing/fin things on her back are quite impressive for 3D printing. In a classic sculpture move, there is a little tree stump right next to her leg and sword to add a bit of structural support without leaving the figure looking unfinished. It’s not a bad feature, in fact, as far as obligatory tree stumps go it was handled pretty well. The only thing is that, in order to have Isa’s sword touching the stump, looking carefully, it seems like they may have bend the blade ever so slightly to achieve contact. That being said, it’s a minor gripe about an overall fantastic sculpt. The color on this model is right on par with my previous Siris figure: looks great overall with one or two minor splotchy areas. In Isa’s case they are on her brace and sword, both of which are fairly small in terms of surface area so I can forgive them looking a little fuzzy. Isa comes with no accessories and has no articulation, but we knew that already, didn’t we?

IsaV1fIsaV1b IsaV1e IsaV1d

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After my purchase of my Siris v.1 figure, Sandboxr, the company that does the actual printing, was nice enough to send me an offer for $5 off my next order. Needless to say I was very quick to send in my Isa’s design for printing. Then, because this is how the world works, the day after I placed my order, I got an email notifying me that Infinity Blade prints by Sandboxr were 20% off. To make a pretty short story even shorter, expect another Siris review very soon. And then probably more of both after that. I gotta wonder though, do you think Siris works for Sandboxr? Because they did a pretty good job of having her… immortalized.

Guest Review #0013: Legion

Posted by Tim Marron in Guest Reviews and tagged with , ,

LEGION               

MASS EFFECT 2 (DC Direct)

Legion1

Today’s review is written by Tim Marron.  Check out more from Tim over at Tim’s Blarg and Timsical Thoughts.  Take it away Tim!

If you recall I reviewed the DC Direct figure of Tali from the Mass Effect series some time ago. This time I’ll be taking a look at essentially her synthetic Geth counterpart, Legion, for he is many. It’s still just a single figure though, but whatever. Semantics.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

This figure is based on Legion’s debut appearance in Mass Effect 2. The sculpt is all new, and given the slightly more intricate design of the character, it’s pretty well done. Sadly, as with Tali, the rest is a bit of a downhill trend. Legion has 14 points of articulation but they all feel like they were added after the fact as opposed to cleverly incorporated into the figure’s construction. The range of motion in each of the joints is not terrific either so its practically impossible to get him (it?) into anything resembling a natural pose. At a glance, the paint looks fine, but when you get down into the details the problems get a little difficult to ignore. There are a few spots of bleed over as well as some areas that just look poorly handled, namely, the detailing inside the hole in Legion’s chest which is covered in blue polka-dots. Sure, it’s meant to look like all the little lights of his internal mechanisms, but they don’t conform to any sculptural pattern, they’re just a regular evenly spaced dot pattern laid over a very irregular surface. Legion comes with a sniper rifle and a stand. Sharp eyed readers may notice that my figure has a different rifle than what comes in the box. This is because for whatever reason, DC Direct decided to swap Legion’s and Garrus’ rifles so that Garrus came with a gun that, in game, was exclusively used by Legion. Luckily a friend of mine saw the same issue with her Garrus figure and we agreed to trade rifles for the greater good. Legion has his share of problems. He is a decent depiction of the character if you’re willing to overlook a couple of things, but sadly thats all there is really. There’s not a whole lot of action to go with the figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Legion from my local ToysRUs kind of on an impulse. I already had the Tali figure from the same line so I expected it to have its share of problems. Nevertheless, given how Legion and Tali have a fairly important backstory in the game, I felt compelled to get him. Maybe it was how cool he was in the game, or maybe it’s the fact that, to my knowledge, no one else makes a figure of him. I guess he isn’t really all that many.

Guest Review #0011: Siris – V1

Posted by Tim Marron in Guest Reviews and tagged with , ,

SIRIS -V1

INFINITY BLADE COLLECTIBLES

Sirus1

Today’s review is written by Tim Marron.  Check out more from Tim over at Tim’s Blarg and Timsical Thoughts.  Take it away Tim!

One of my favorite game series of all time has got to be the Infinity Blade franchise, developed by Chair for iOS. It’s got everything I love: swords, fighting, swords, monsters, weapons, and swords [also swords. –Ethan]. The 3rd volume of the game was released in 2013 and somewhere along the line, there was an update that added the feature to order a custom 3D printed figure of your character straight from the game. The figures can be printed in small (~3 ½ inches), medium (~4 ½ inches), and large (5 ½ – 6 inches) sizes. Today, for my inaugural IB figure review, I’ll be looking at version 1 of my Siris build in small.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Sirus4Siris is based on his appearance in Infinity Blade 3. Mine specifically is 3 ½ inches tall and shows him sporting the Nightbringer helm, Still Plate armor, Starsh sword, and Nodus shield in the “crossed” pose. Being 3D printed, all of Siris’ sculpt is new, and because it was printed using the game’s model data, it’s pretty spot on. Certain areas like the shield can seem a little chunkier than in the game, but at such a small scale, beefing up parts like that to improve durability is perfectly acceptable. In addition, the coloring is quite impressive. There isn’t a drop of paint used on the figure, instead, all the color comes from the print medium itself. The shield again seems to have a little trouble with some of the details being slightly fuzzy but it’s not terrible and the rest of the figure is nice and clean. Sandboxr, the company that handles printing these figures describes the medium as a “sandstone-like powder” material that is then treated to make the print a solid piece. The choice of medium allows for much more detailed prints than with plastic filament printers and also gives the figure a nice amount of heft. Aside from the aforementioned sword and shield permanently affixed to his back, Siris features no accessories and has no articulation.

Sirus2Sirus3Siris5

 THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Until just a couple months ago, I had no idea the feature of having your character as a 3D print was even a thing, so when I stumbled across the Infinity Blade Collectibles website and found it, I immediately jumped into the game and decked out my character. The wait between placing the order and receiving it seemed a little long, but honestly, for something custom made, the turnaround was not bad at all. It is a bit of a shame that they only make static figures, although the level of customization involved would make fully articulated figures a bit of a pain to produce. In the end, it’s a super cool little statue to have and I’m already looking into getting more.

Guest Review #0006: Orbital Frame Jehuty

Posted by Tim Marron in Guest Reviews and tagged with , ,

ORBITAL FRAME JEHUTY              

SENTINEL RIOBOT

Jehuti7

 

Today’s review is written by Tim Marron.  Check out more from Tim over at Tim’s Blarg and Timsical Thoughts.  Take it away Tim!

Grab your Metatron and engage Zero Shift, it’s Orbital Frame Jehuty. Yes. Today I’ll be reviewing the main mecha from Konami’s Zone of the Enders series which originally launched for the Playstation 2 but was recently rereleased for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. But enough about games. Let’s take a look at the figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

There are already several companies that make action figures of Jehuty, but this one specifically is made by Sentinel as part of their Riobot line. From my understanding, they’re a fairly new company but they specialize in really high-end figures, usually of the robotic sort. Jehuty’s design is taken from his appearance in Zone of the Enders: Second Runner. He stands about 7″ tall, but given he has no real feet that I trust to hold him up, he pretty much always needs a stand which boosts him to around 8″ standing bolt-upright. Of course, thats not how you’re meant to display him. Jehuty has really excellent potential for awesome action poses thanks to his mind-blowing 85 points of articulation. It really feels like someone at Sentinel had a point to prove about how many moving parts they could fit into the figure and I love it. Any pose Jehuty ever makes in the game ever can be faithfully replicated with the figure. He has a really amazing range of motion which is even more impressive when you realize that they didn’t have to mess with the sculpt to pull it off. Speaking of, being a new figure, the sculpt is all new and spot on if not a little nicer than his look from the game due to the PS2’s limits on rendering polygons. This is helped by the immaculate paint job on this thing. It’s official, Sentinel hires wizards to paint their figures. That has to be it. No bleed over, no slop, tasteful and appropriate use of metallic and matte textures, and printed text so small I can’t read it without a magnifier. Wizards. Jehuty comes with loads of accessories, 2 relaxed hands, 2 fist hands, 2 splayed hands, 2 pointed hands, 2 pointed hands with pegs (I’ll explain shortly), a long sword blade, a short sword blade, 2 wing vanes, 4 missiles with clips, 3 “option” modules with clips, a ring radar, a girder beam, a large panel, removable butt plate for attaching to the stand, and finally the stand itself. Phew. Now the purpose of the hands with pegs is that they allow Jehuty to hold the girder or the panel like he does in the game to use as a bludgeon and shield respectively. Also, the missiles and options can be attached to the ring radar to give them the appearance of floating around Jehuty. One more detail about the hands that I particularly liked was how, in the game Jehuty’s hands have 2 thumbs and 3 fingers, making them effectively symmetrical. This means Sentinel could have easily gotten away with doing one sculpt of each hand pose and just putting 2 of each in the box, but thats not what they did. If you look closely at each pair of hands, you can see that each hand is not quite symmetrical but is a mirror of its pair, so yes, Jehuty’s hands are left/right specific even though they really didn’t need to be. I still appreciate the effort though. All in all, this figure is incredible and a must-have for any ZOE fans, just as long as you have the coin for it.

Jehuti1  Jehuti4 Jehuti3 Jehuti2 Jehuti5

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this figure for my birthday after my parents got me an Amazon gift card. I’d seen it before and had been locked in an internal debate over quality/coolness of the figure vs the price but thankfully the gift card settled it peacefully. My exposure to ZOE in general actually started with action figures. Again, I’d seen various models of Jehuty on Amazon and immediately loved the design. Well, aside from the rather unfortunate uh… “cockpit” but I was willing to overlook that. It was only after I had been looking at the figures for some time and even bought the soundtrack that I got the actual game. After playing for a while I knew purchasing figure was inevitable. To my knowledge, theres been talk of Sentinel making more ZOE figures but no real developments in that. Given the quality of this figure, I’d love to see Anubis pop in out of nowhere, as is his way.

Jehuti6

Guest Review #0005: Ranger Elite

Posted by Tim Marron in Guest Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

RANGER ELITE (SANGHEILI)

HALO REACH

IMG_0645

Today’s review is written by Tim Marron.  Check out more from Tim over at Tim’s Blarg and Timsical Thoughts.  Take it away Tim!

When it comes to video games, two of the traits I tend to look for are the presence of shootbangs, and a high level of polish. I don’t mean that in the sense of the game being thoroughly tested and fine-tuned, although that is also desirable. No, I mean it’s got lots of shiny things. As many of you probably know, the Halo franchise meets both of these criteria consistently across titles and it is from this series that today’s figure comes. I’ll be taking a look at the Ranger Elite from Halo Reach, the origin story of the Halo universe.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

For those of you not familiar with the Halo games or lore, Elites, or Sangheili if you really want to show off, are a species of alien that are part of a military coalition known as the Covenant. This specific figure is part of McFarlane Toys’ fifth series of Halo Reach action figures and depicts an Elite in the Ranger armor. He features 25 points of articulation and stands about 6″ tall, when you can get him to stand, that is. The sculpt is pretty accurate to the look from the game and is mostly original apart from the feet, hands, and lower torso which are reused from all previous Halo Reach Elites. There are some seam lines and kibble, but anyone handy with an X-acto knife should be able to remedy these easily enough. I do appreciate how the Elite’s face can be partially seen underneath the transparent visor of his helmet instead of, say, having the visor be painted on opaque… and the wrong color. I’m looking at you, DC Direct (see my review of their Tali’Zorah figure). The sculpting does start to be an issue when it runs into certain areas of articulation on the figure. Places like the knees and elbows are sculpted to match as closely as possible to the shape of the character model in the game. However, the simple hinge joint they used on the figure aren’t entirely compatible which results in the knee caps and elbows peeling away from the rest of the arm or leg when you bend the joint. This forms weird little spikes that aren’t meant to be there and can be a little pinchy if you aren’t paying attention. The paint is decent although hardcore collectors will notice some serious areas of slop and bleed over. That being said, the average casual collector such as myself will be totally fine with the paint which has a nice variety of textures like metallic and even pearlescent in some areas. The Ranger Elite comes with a Focus Rifle, Plasma Grenade, and back plate that can be removed to attach a jetpack from one of the other figures in this line. I would have liked a stand of some kind because he is a touch on the wobbly side, but it’s not that big of a deal given that this is probably the most toy-ish action figure I have. This guy isn’t meant to be stood up on a shelf, he’s meant to be played with, and I kinda like that.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure was maybe one of my most impulsive impulse buys. I got him from Toys-R-Us, where I had gone initially to browse the Nerf aisle (ask me about my Nerf collection, I dare you) in search of an early release. I only saw it as I was wandering back through the store. The combination of my favorite Halo armor design along with one of my favorite weapon designs both in one box caused an involuntary reflex in which I took the figure to the checkout, purchased it, and walked back to the car. Ok, maybe it wasn’t involuntary but I am glad to have the figure. It does have its issues as a figure, but as a toy, I give it a resounding BLARG of triumph.

Guest Review #0004: Quorra

Posted by Tim Marron in Guest Reviews and tagged with , ,

QUORRA

TRON: LEGACY (SPIN MASTER)

Qorra2

Today’s review is written by Tim Marron.  Check out more from Tim over at Tim’s Blarg and Timsical Thoughts.  Take it away Tim!

As I’ve said before, my action figure collection tends to stem from video games. Today’s figure follows this pattern, even though the game itself exists in a movie, but was then made as a real game, sorta… it’s complicated. Anyway, today I’ll be looking at Quorra from Tron: Legacy. I’ll also be reviewing an action figure of her as well made by Spin Master.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The figure is based on Quorra’s initial appearance in the film when she rescues Sam from GAMES. Regrettably this means that she is depicted wearing her helmet which only stays on for about a minute of screen time and there isn’t the alternate Olivia Wilde, slanted bangs head that everyone hoped for. Quorra stands about 4″ tall and features 23 points of articulation. One of the gimmicks for this line of figures is that they light up, in keeping with the aesthetic of the movie. Aside from the unfortunate perma-helmet, the figure’s sculpt is unique to this character, and is pretty decent with just a few minor hiccups. The legs are a little skinny and the proportions around the waist are slightly off, making Quorra look a just a tad chunky if viewed from the side, but then again this is to accommodate the battery and aforementioned light so I’ll let it slide. Also, for whatever reason, her skirt is made of hard plastic which substantially restricts hip movement which stinks because the overall figure has fairly good range of motion. If it weren’t for the skirt, and maybe the neck, you could probably pull off some cool action poses. The paint keeps up this trend of decent-but-not-fantastic with a few small areas of bleed over as well as a couple spots of careless slop marring and otherwise pristine paint job. Quorra comes packaged with her Identity Disk and sword as well as a stand on which to display her. So overall, yes the figure has its problems, but for the most part I can overlook those flaws because she’s my favorite character from the movie. It also helps that I only paid $5 for the figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I purchased this figure not long after I saw Tron: Legacy for the first time. I knew I wanted a little light up figure after they were cleverly shown off in the opening scene by a horrifically CGI-ed Jeff Bridges, it only became clearer later on who I wanted a figure of. After finding out that the 12″ Impulse Projection line of figures from the movie did not include Quorra, I settled on the 3″ version I have now.

Guest Review #0002: Tali

Posted by Tim Marron in Guest Reviews and tagged with , ,

TALI’ZORAH VAS NORMANDY

MASS EFFECT 2(DC DIRECT)

Tali(DCD)

Hey, guess who’s back. That’s right. It’s Tim with another guest review!

Those of you who read my review of Raiden from Metal Gear Rising will know that I love video games. One game franchise very near and dear to my heart is the Mass Effect series by Bioware. In particular, I absolutely love the character Tali. So, today I’ll be looking at DC Direct’s attempt to recreate her in plastic form.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

This figure is based on Tali’s appearance in Mass Effect 2 and was released around April of 2011 as part of series 1 of DC Direct’s line of Mass Effect 2 figures. She stands about 6.5″ tall and features 12 points of articulation. The sculpt is decent. Being the first Tali figure released, all of the sculpt work is new although this figure was re-released as part of the Mass Effect 3 series. There’s nothing really mind-blowing but it is the right shape and proportion. It would be absolutely fine if the detailing was taken care of with the paint, but sadly this is not so. Most of the figure is painted in solid blocks of color with almost no attempt made to add shading or texture. This is not to mention the substantial amount of slop and even parts where the color is just plain wrong. They painted her helmet visor pink, for Pete’s sake! In terms of posability, it almost seems like the figure’s articulation was a rushed afterthought [welcome to DC Direct! –Ethan.] The joints in the arms and legs allow you to pose Tali in any combination of standing vs. awkward half-squatting and rigid stick arms vs. karate chop action pose. Fantastic. Her head can technically move, but given that her hood is made of rubber and glued down where it connects to her torso, turning her head ends up with her looking at the inside of her own hood. She comes packaged with a shotgun and a stand. The shotgun does not stay in her hand and due to the articulation issues in the arms, she can only hold it one-handed. She also technically comes with her Omnitool but I hesitate to call that an accessory because, while it is not an integral part of the figure, I’m not sure it can be safely removed either.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Tali was my first online action figure purchase as well as my first experience with a pretty disappointing figure. Although at the time I bought it, I was just excited about anything to do with Tali coming out so I jumped on it as soon as I could. It was only after that that I started hanging out with Ethan and learned that apparently this figure is pretty standard for DC Direct. At this point, I look at it and it’s not a great action figure, but it’s still Mass Effect, and it’s still Tali so despite all my criticisms, I can’t hate it.

Check out more from Tim over at Tim’s Blarg and Timsical Thoughts

Guest Review #0001: Raiden

Posted by Tim Marron in Guest Reviews and tagged with , , ,

RAIDEN

METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE (SQUARE ENIX PLAY ARTS KAI)

Hey guys! Today, instead of the typical review by yours truly, my friend Tim Marron will be stepping in for a guest review. If you like today’s review and want to read more from Tim, be sure to check out Timsical Thoughts, where Tim posts a daily random thoughts about life, the universe and everything, as well as Tim’s Blarg where he talks about his work as an artist. Raiden1 To start things off, hello. My name is Tim and I will be handling this, the first of many guest reviews. While Ethan appears to have action figures from movies, TV shows and comics pretty much nailed down, basically all of my action figures stem from video games. But enough about me for now, let’s get down to the review. Ninjas and cyborgs. What two things could possibly be a better combo than that?  Such a happy combination falls to today’s review of the main character of the game Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Raiden. That’s Raiden as in “riding” minus the “g.” Not to be confused with Raiden (ray-den) from the Mortal Kombat franchise.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

RaidenAccessoriesRaiden was released in February of 2013, right alongside Konami’s release of MGR:R. He stands roughly 11″ tall and features 35 points of articulation, 45 if you include the arm on his sheath. His design is taken from his appearance in the game after the fateful duel against rival “Jetstream” Sam Rodrigues which happens at the end of the first chapter/prologue. Square Enix was the first company to release an MGR:R Raiden figure so all of the sculpting is the first of its kind. The sculpt itself is excellent, combined with a damn-near perfect paint job the figure looks like it was pulled right out of the game itself. Only real gripe I have with the figure is that the little strap thingies that connect to Raiden’s torso can be a bit of a pain if they come untucked from his hip piece, but I can understand the design choice since it allows an accurate character depiction while still maintaining very good posablility. I suppose the face could use a bit of extra color to bring out his features some more, but honestly, I prefer the way he looks with his mask on, so it doesn’t bother me. Raiden comes packaged with his signature High-Frequency Blade, sheath, tanto knife, 3 high-frequency throwing knives with a pouch to hold them, a pair of open hands, a pair of grasping hands, a pair of standing feet, a pair of grasping feet, VR visor/mask, and hair piece. Now, to those of you asking “what the heck are grasping feet?” allow me to explain. In the game’s context, Raiden’s feet make it look like he is wearing heels, when in actuality, that heel works like a big thumb, allowing him to wield his sword with his feet. It is no exaggeration to say he will kick dudes apart. And yes, the figure can do it too.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION When MGR:R was set to come out, I was so excited for it that I pre-ordered it at my local GameStop which, for those who know me is extremely unusual behavior for myself. A) I bought a brand new game at full retail price, and b) I put in the effort to pre-order something at all. As it turned out, the game delivered on all of my expectations and I spent the next couple months ranting about how much I love it like a huge nerd. When I discovered this figure, there was no doubt in my mind I would own it because, again, I’m a huge nerd. I managed to pick it up, brand new, off eBay for a decent price. He now stands proudly atop my printer, pointing his sword menacingly at my roommate’s half of the room. I consider Raiden to be my first real entry into the world of high-end action figures. The big scary world where the good stuff costs you an arm. Something I’m sure Raiden can sympathize with. ZING! Raiden2