Category Archives: Flashback Friday Figure Addendum

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0061: Darth Vader

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , ,

DARTH VADER

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Hey, it’s Friday, which means it’s time to Flashback, all FiQ-ily.  With an addendum.  And stuff.  It’s been a lot of Toy Biz Marvel for this particular feature, but today I’m going all radically different and doing a Star Wars thing.  Oh yeah!  Here’s a Darth Vader…again!

“Once known as Anakin Skywalker, expert pilot and hero, Vader studied the ways of the Force under young Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi. His impatience with the Jedi training made him susceptible to the dark side, which corrupted him as he gave in to his anger and aggression. Vader was almost killed in a confrontation with Kenobi, and was forced to adopt his current life support systems and fearsome body armor.”

You know, it’s been two weeks since I reviewed a Star Wars figure. That’s a long time. I could go into withdrawal. Or worse yet, I could get a huge backlog of Star Wars figures to review! Oh…right…too late. Well, let’s take another stab at getting through that backlog, shall we? Let’s have a look at my man Vader here.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Darth Vader was part of the very first series of the Power of the Force II line. Believe it or not, this was only the second small-scale Vader ever released. That’s kind of crazy in this day and age where you can’t go anywhere without tripping over like 50 of this guy. This was long before the trend of 100% movie accuracy, so this figure ends up as a rather indeterminate version of Vader. I suppose he’s technically an Empire/Jedi Vader, since his robes go under his shoulder armor. Of course, even the original Vader, who was released to coincide with the first movie, had the robes under the armor, so I think it’s less an accuracy thing and more a “they just never really noticed” thing. The figure stands 4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation. Vader’s not only taller than his compatriots, he’s also just generally larger. This is Vader if Star Wars had been made in the ‘90s and he’d been played by Jeep Swenson…the ‘90s were a strange time. Apart from the overall Swenson-ness, the sculpt isn’t terrible. The quilted pattern on his undersuit is nice, and most of the important details are there. The helmet’s a little off, but it was a marked improvement on the vintage version, and it’s not like anyone would ever confuse it for anything but Darth Vader’s helmet. The one notable omission on this guy is his lack of the bottom section of his robe. However, as with the handling of the shoulder armor, this is something consistent with the vintage release, so maybe Kenner/Hasbro just hadn’t learned yet. The figure’s topped off with a plastic cape, which makes the already bulky Vader even bulkier. It’s not a bad piece, but it definitely has a flair for the dramatic. Vader’s paint is fairly straightforward stuff. Mostly, he’s just molded in black, with a few little spots of detail work. Nothing spectacular, but it’s fair enough fore the time. Vader’s one accessory was his lightsaber, which, like all of the early figures, came in short and long variants. Mine no longer has his, but I’m fairly certain it was one of the short ones, given the basic time period of when I would have gotten this.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t know 100% how this guy came into my collection. I know how he *didn’t* come into my collection. Let me ‘splain: the first time I saw this figure, it was just after seeing The Hunchback of Notre Dame in the theatre. After the movie, my parents took me to the KB Toys in the same mall so I could get one figure. It came down to this guy or Phoebus from Hunchback. Having just seen the movie, it was Phoebus, and not Vader, who went home with me that day. I know that Vader was given to me by my parents shortly after. Now, if I had to guess, using my much more fully-formed and adult investigative skills, I’d say my parents more than likely bought me both of these figures that day and just gave me Vader a little later. I can’t know for certain, of course, but that’s certainly the type of thing they’re prone to do. 

This was a fall 2017 review, after I’d burned through a lot of my new purchases I’d gotten over that summer.  For Star Wars in particular, I’d gotten through all of the Force Friday products from The Last Jedi’s product drop, which was, like, two weeks of solid Star Wars.  But, I was still very hyped, so I wasn’t approaching any burnout, which I guess is nice.  I do laugh at my remark about the size of my Star Wars backlog, because I’m at a point now where there’s not so much of that.  I think my actual review of Vader’s not so bad.  He was, however, missing his lightsaber, and also I neglected to do turnarounds, so here I am, fixing both of those things!

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0060: Thor

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , ,

THOR

MARVEL SUPER HEROES (TOY BIZ)

When does a Flashback Friday Figure Addendum come a day late?  When it’s actually a Thor’s day!  …Get it?  Because, you know, it’s, Thor.  And Thursday’s his day?  Yep, I’ll just show myself out, then.  Actually, no I won’t, because it’s my site, so I kinda need to be here.  You guys are free to leave any time though, so, you know, just putting that out there.  Let’s look at Thor again!

“Thor, the legendary Norse God of Thunder, is the most powerful Marvel Super Hero. With his amazing hammer, Mjolnir, Thor can fly, smash through any obstacle and create and control the mightiest storms – even tornadoes and hurricanes. Though Thor’s home is Asgard, where all the Norse gods live, Thor spends most of his time on Earth with his friends Iron Man and Captain America helping them fight the forces of evil and injustice that threaten the world.”

Happy Thorsday everyone! …She already did this bit earlier, didn’t she? *sigh* This is what I get for letting other people write for the site. Well, there goes my intro. Anyway, I’m also looking at a Thor figure today, but I’m looking at the original, Odinson variety of Thor. This one hails from the ‘90s, which was actually a pretty barren time for Thor figures, believe it or not. There were only three figures of him in the space of the decade, and today I look at the first of those three.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Thor was released in the second series of Toy Biz’s Marvel Super Heroes line, alongside fellow Avenger and previous subject of review Iron Man. The figure stands about 5 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation. He’s ostensibly based on Thor’s classic design, though he’s a bit removed from how he usually looks. See how he doesn’t have a cape? There’s no missing piece there; he just never had a cape. They left it out, for whatever reason. Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe they were actually basing him on Thor from Adventures in Babysitting? I mean, he doesn’t look *unlike* Vincent D’Onofrio. Maybe I’m onto something here. Thor’s sculpt was unique to him, and follows the style seen with the likes of Cap, Iron Man, and Silver Surfer. There’s a definite Super Powers sort of aesthetic, albeit a slightly dumbed down version. It’s not quite as strong a sculpt as Series 1’s Captain America (which is probably my favorite in the line), but it’s certainly an improvement over the really goofy Iron Man sculpt. Still, he’s kind of oddly proportioned, and the hair just sort of looks weird suddenly stopping the way it does. Thor’s paintwork follows the sculpt in its strange lack of cohesion to his usual design. Instead of the usual black for the tunic, this guy’s got the same blue used on his pants. It makes for a slightly less bold look, and means he looks a little blander than usual. It probably that doesn’t help that the little chest circles are light blue instead of silver, and the helmet is just a straight white. The paint definitely seams a bit lax on this guy. Thor was originally packed with his hammer Mjolnir, which mine is missing. He also has a hammer swinging action feature built into his right arm.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Marvel Super Heroes Series 2 was pretty much entirely gone from retail when I started collecting, so I went quite a while without a Thor (all I had was the rather lackluster Marvel Masterpiece boxed set version). I ended up getting this guy over the summer, via Yesterday’s Fun. He’s okay, I guess. Not anything amazing, but he fits well enough with the rest of the set of Marvel Super Heroes Avengers.

This review originally ran second on the day it was published, following a guest review by my late wife Jess, who had reviewed the Marvel Legends Jane Foster Thor, and had, appropriately, stolen my thunder on the opening joke.  We’d actually deliberately planned it out that way, because we liked being silly in the public view.  That was quite a bit of fun.

I think my actual review on this guy was generally solid.  He’s got some issues that hold him back from being great, but in the larger context of Marvel Super Heroes, he works well enough.  What I was missing at the time were his accessories.  I called out the missing hammer, but neglected to mention that he also included a lightning bolt piece.  I have subsequently located replacements for mine, and along the way also determined that there were actually two lengths of hammer for this figure, one long, and one short.  There also exist two different molds of this release, one with a button for his hammer throwing feature, and one without.  Now I have both.  Hurrah.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0059: Ahab

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , ,

AHAB

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

It’s Friday, which around here is my own day of personal reflection…well, within the context of the site, at the very least.  You know, in that sort of Flashback Friday Figure Addendum sort of way.  I’m jumping once more back into the world of old Toy Biz Marvel reviews, with Ahab!

“A houndmaster from a future timeline in which mutants are hunted down and destroyed, Ahab has time-traveled to the present to continue his mission of eliminating dangerous mutants. Employing advanced Sentinel technology in his powerful cyborg body, Ahab ruthlessly enslaves those mutants he does not kill, transforming them into telepathic hounds which he uses to track down others of their kind. Only the combined powers of the X-Men, X-Factor, the New Mutants and the Fantastic Four were able to put a stop to Ahab’s murderous rampage through our time in the past. Should he reappear, who knows what havoc he might wreak!”

You know how sometimes there’s bad figures of good characters? Or, on the flip side, good figures of bad characters? Today represents neither of those things. Today, I look at what might be one of the very worst figures ever released in Toy Biz’s 5-inch X-Men line. He’s a little figure by the name of Ahab. Let’s just get straight to it, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ahab was released in Series 5 of X-Men. In a series populated by fan-favorites, he’s…well, he’s not. He’s an odd choice for the set, and the line in general really. I mean, I guess he was involved in some semi-important stories in the comics. But, given that one of the characters completely absent from Toy Biz’s entire run was Rachel Summers, who’s sort of the only reason Ahab matters at all, he feels out of place. Maybe there’s a big Ahab fanbase out there or something. I don’t know. Anyway, the figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation. For reasons I’m not entirely sure of, he lacks neck and elbow movement, which makes for a very stiff figure. Already not the greatest start. Ahab has what has to be one of the clunkiest sculpts of any figure in this line. I genuinely don’t know how they managed to mess him up this bad. I mean, he’s hardly got the greatest design in the comics, but it’s better than this, to be sure. Everything about this figure is blocky, stiff, and inorganic. That’s fine for the blocky, stiff, and inorganic parts, but not so much for the parts that aren’t those things. His head is particularly bad, given it’s incredibly thin, tall look, and complete lack of neck. He’s got this sort of cyborg-zombie-Abraham-Lincoln thing going on, and the sculpt doesn’t seem to be able to decide what’s his hair and what’s his headgear. They just sort of meld together. He’s also got this look on his face like he just crapped his pants. Which, in a gross way, leads me to my next complaint: his legs. Or, more specifically, his hips, which are oddly shaped, not particularly accurate to his comics design, and start a considerable distance after his torso ends. Ahab’s paintwork is decent enough for what it is. It’s pretty basic, and far from the most appealing color scheme. Burnt sienna and lavender isn’t exactly an imposing combo. Also, we get the same issues the sculpt had with the hair/headgear changeover, which just sort of…happens. The figure was originally packed with a missile launcher and three “harpoons,” which I don’t have.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, if I hate this guy so much, why do I own him? Is he another gift from a confused family member? Nope, he’s actually a pretty recent acquisition. In the last few months, I’ve decided to try and complete my ‘90s X-Men collection. That meant I was gonna have to get this guy eventually. I found this one at Yesterday’s Fun for $1, which is really about the cap of how much I’m willing to pay for him. He’s an awful figure. Just awful. But, I like to look at the positives: the collection only improves from here! 

Okay, so, for the second time since I started doing these, I find myself honestly not liking a review I wrote.  It’s odd for it to be one so late in the run, after I’d established the style more, but…yeah, I just feel like this one seemed a bit mean spirited.  Looking at the publication date, it went up the day after my birthday in 2017, and, well, I was going through some stuff at the time, which I think may have impacted my writing a little bit.  It’s not to say that I think I was wrong about Ahab being a less than stellar figure.  That he most certainly is.  Worst in the Toy Biz run?  Eh, I don’t know if I can really stand by that.  He’s not super fun, and I think I made a good point that it’s odd they made him and no Rachel Summers to go along, given he mostly exists as a foil to her.  Worst though?  Seems a bit hyperbolic.

In 2017, I was still content to have a bunch of incomplete figures in my collection, and I’m less about that now, so this summer I actually bought a second Ahab (I know, crazy) so that I could get the missile launcher and harpoons.  They, like the figure, aren’t great, and are even worse in the sense of how they interact with him, which is not very well.  But, at least he’s complete.  And, he’s the only Ahab figure out there, so he’s at least got some novelty?  I don’t know, I’m trying to be nice!

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0058: Spider-Woman

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , ,

SPIDER-WOMAN

SPIDER-MAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (TOY BIZ)

Hey, look it’s the first Friday of the new year!  No it isn’t, but it is for the purposes of the site, so there!  Did we really miss out on anything from that actual first Friday, anyway?  I don’t think so, and I was there, so trust me.  It’s a new year and a new start, so it’s a perfect time for me to continue to do exactly the same thing I was doing on Fridays at the end of last year, and look back at my old Toy Biz reviews.  Yaaaaaaaay.  Here’s Spider-Woman….again.

“Once an illegal operative, Jessica Drew left the group called Hydra to fight crime as the original Spider-Woman! With the ability to climb walls and emit bio-electric spider-blasts, Spider-Woman put many super-villains behind bars. Eventually giving up her identity as Spider-Woman, Jessica Drew now fights crime as a private investigator!”

When does a spin-off character have nothing to do with the original? When they’re Spider-Woman, of course. The first Spider-Woman, Jessica Drew, was introduced in 1977 as little more than a way of preventing Filmation from putting out a cartoon with their own Spider-Woman. She had a similar power set to everyone’s favorite wall-crawler, but there the similarities ended. The two characters wouldn’t even meet for quite a long time after her creation. Which makes the fact that her very first figure came from a Spider-Man toyline all the more amusing.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Woman was released in Series 7 of Toy Biz’s Spider-Man: The Animated Series tie-in toyline. She wasn’t based on a cartoon appearance (likely to avoid viewer confusion; her successor, Julia Carpenter, was a regular on the Iron Man cartoon at the same time). In fact, Series 7 was right about the time that the series stopped focussing on following the cartoon, so Spider-Woman was not the only non-show figure in the series. The figure stands about 5 inches tall and she has 8 points of articulation. Jessica’s sculpt is a reworking of the Julia Carpenter Spider-Woman from Series 1 of the Iron Man line. This would be the first time they’d share a sculpt, but far from the last. Given the similarities in design, it’s a rather practical way of getting an extra use out of the molds, I suppose. She’s been tweaked to add in elbow joints and also to remove Spider-Woman II’s action feature. Sadly, they didn’t go as far as to add back in the neck movement lost due to the action feature, but that would have been a more hefty re-working, I suppose. The sculpt is a pretty decent one overall. The proportions are fairly balanced, and pretty decent for the time. The hair has a pretty nice sculpt, and sits nicely, and the face isn’t too terrible. The one main drag with this sculpt is just how stiff it is. She doesn’t really look natural in any pose. It’s largely to do with the arms, or more specifically, the hands. She’s got this karate chop thing going on, and it just looks rather out of place. The paint is really the key part of this figure, and it’s pretty decent. The colors match well with her comics counterpart, and the work is generally on the clean side. Some of the black lines are a little fuzzy, but it’s not terrible. In terms of accessories, Jessica was about on par with most of the other figures of this time, which means she has a bunch of random stuff that doesn’t amount to much of anything. There was like a shield and a weird gun-thing I think? Mine has neither piece, and that’s just fine.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Spider-Woman wasn’t one of my childhood figures. My dad had one, but I didn’t, largely due to not being overly familiar with Jessica Drew. I’ve since picked up some knowledge and appreciation for the character, so I’ve been on the look out for this figure. I found her at Yesterday’s Fun last week, but ultimately put her (and a few others) back in favor a few other things. My Dad apparently took note of this, and presented me with the whole lot the next day. He’s nice like that. She’s a decent enough figure, I suppose. Nothing amazing, but certainly entertaining. 

That’s a summer 2017 review, so things are pretty much the shape they’ve been for a while in terms of my approach.  I wrote what I wrote, and I think it’s pretty on point.  2017 was, in retrospect, a pretty good year for me in terms of Toy Biz pulls, so that was pretty nice, given it was otherwise a kind of rough one for me.  What I was missing when I wrote the original review *nine* years ago, were Spider-Woman’s accessories, which I did note at the time were “a bunch of random stuff.”  Well, I got the random stuff.  She’s got a big gun and a shield.  Can’t actually hold either of them on account of her karate chop hands, but they, like, slide on them?  They’re very silly, and she’s better without them, but they do at least make me laugh.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0057: Skin

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , ,

SKIN

GENERATION X (TOY BIZ)

Hey, we made it to another Friday!  Good for us!  Go team!  We did it!  Well, to celebrate the occasion, let’s have another Flashback Friday Figure addendum, shall we?  This time we’re taking a second look at Skin.  Just Skin.

“Angela Espinosa’s body has six extra feet of skin – this is his mutant ‘gift’???. Even he doesn’t quite understand how it works and although he would never admit it, that scares him. He’s come to Xavier’s School form the mean streets of South Central Los Angeles to learn to control his skin, at least enough for him to appear as he did before his powers developed – normal.”

In the ‘90s, the X-Men were Marvel’s hottest property by far. To cash-in on this success, they turned around and launched like a million spin-offs. The more teen-oriented team of hip, fliggity-fly youngsters was Generation X, which was super, super ‘90s. It had a pretty decent following back in the day, and since Toy Biz was giving a toyline to just about everything under the son, it also had one of those. Today, I’ll be taking a look at one of the team’s central members, Skin!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Skin was released in Series 1 of Toy Biz’s Generation X line of figures. He appears to be patterned after the character’s earlier appearances in the book, before he got all scruffy. The figure stands about 5 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation. For some reason, the Generation X figures were less articulated than most of Toy Biz’s Marvel output from the same time. Perhaps it was to minimize potential risk on the financial side of things, should the line fail? I don’t know. Anyway, Skin was an all-new sculpt. It seems to take the Kenner route, offering a more preposed figure with less movement. It looks pretty solid; I like all the little minor details, like the folds in his skin. In makes for quite a unique looking figure. I also appreciate that his costume isn’t simply depicted as painted on, but actually has some dimension to it. Now, if you want to get picky, the hands and feet shouldn’t be done the way they are here, since the skeletal structure is clearly elongated here, and his abilities only actually had to do with his skin. That being said, most artists tended to ignore this rule, so the figure’s hardly inaccurate. The paint work on the figure is okay, but there are a few issues. The base work is overall okay, but the magenta on the arms and legs doesn’t quite match the torso. It’s not as bad in person as it is in the photos, but it’s still noticeable. The yellow paint is also a bit prone to chipping, which is a little annoying, but otherwise he’s pretty decent. The figure has a “Growing Fingers” action feature on his left hand. There’s a little latch on the forearm, and when you release it, the fingers shoot forward a half-inch or so. It’s pretty much the same mechanic that was used on several of TB’s Wolverine figures, and it works pretty well, without disrupting the overall look of the figure too much. Skin was packed with a back pack that can be clipped on his back. It originally had a little headset attachment, but I’ve lost mine.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I missed out on most of the Generation X figures when they were new. Around 2000 or so, I got some still-packaged mid-90s figures, and the whole first series of Gen X figures was pictured on the back, leading me to attempt to track down Skin and his team-mate Chamber. It wasn’t easy (we had eBay, but the ‘90s action figures market wasn’t really there yet), but I eventually found both figures at a nearby comic book store for a pretty decent price. Despite never being super huge into Generation X, I’ve always really liked this figure, and he holds up pretty well. 

Generally, that’s not a bad review.  Good for me.  It’s from 2017, and I was really into the swing of things by that point.  This one was more than likely written on the road, as we took a cross country from Seattle to North Carolina in June of that year, and I did a lot of writing during it.  Skin would have actually made the trip with me, because I was trying actually have things on hand for reviewing.  While I had his backpack at the time, it was missing the headset attachment, and I also didn’t show off his stand.  I managed to snag a complete one over the summer, and used that to recomplete my original, as seen here.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0056: Silver Surfer

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , ,

SILVER SURFER

MARVEL SUPER HEROES (TOY BIZ)

Hey-oh, it’s the end of the week once more, which means it’s time for another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum!  Oh yeah!  Flashing back to the far away year of 2016, back when things were oh so 2016-y, here’s a revisit on a Silver Surfer!

Though they were best known for their 15 year run with the Marvel license, Toy Biz’s first work of note was actual doing toys based on Marvel’s Distinguished Competition. Toy Biz’s DC action figures were little more than knock-offs of Kenner’s Super Powers line. When Toy Biz was granted the Marvel license, their initial offerings were rather similar to what they had done for DC. They offered a rather broadly ranging line, covering the major corners of the Marvel Universe (barring the X-Men, who got their own line). Today, I’ll be taking a look at one of that line’s versions of the Silver Surfer!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Silver Surfer was released in the third series of Toy Biz’s Marvel Super Heroes line. The figure stands about 5 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation. That’s actually a pretty low articulation count for a Toy Biz figure, and it’s even a bit low for this particular line. This figure is mostly the same sculpt as his Series 1 counterpart. The only difference between the two is the lack of neck articulation. It’s an odd choice, and it definitely limits what can be done with the figure, but I’d guess it had something to do with the vac metalizing. The sculpt isn’t terrible, but it’s not particularly great either. He’s similar in style to the Toy Biz Green Lantern, in that his proportions feel rather off, and the level of detail is very low. Also, his head is just very oddly shaped. It’s definitely too small, and the face (which is very ill-defined) sits too high. In fact, the head in general sits too high on the neck, and the whole construction there just looks weird. As far as paint goes, this particular Surfer doesn’t really have any, he’s just vac metalized. Later Surfer’s would at least get detailing on the eyes, but that’s not the case with this guy. Just the straight up and down silver for him. Silver Surfer originally included his surfboard, done up to match him. Unlike other versions of the board, this one was really thick, and it had wheels on the bottom. So, he’s not actually the Silver Surfer, he’s the Silver Skateboarder. Radical.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Surfer is the eighth of the 15 figures that I picked up from a vendor at this past Balticon. I…I’m not really sure how I feel about him. I mean, the chrome look is certainly cool, but the actual figure’s kind of a bit lame. Toy Biz definitely improved in leaps and bounds over the years, but this guy’s a disappointment even compared to the figures from the same line. I hate to be this down on a figure, but this guy, well, he’s not great.

This figure was another part of a batch of loose Toy Biz figures I snagged for super cheap at a con literally the weekend after I graduated from college.  I was all nostalgic and stuff, and I sort of bled a lot of that into my reviews of the associated figures, I think.  I had the option to get both MSH Surfers at the time, but opted only for the chromed one, because I guess I like shiny things?  My review’s generally not bad, though, not having both figures in my possession, I did kind of go with “they’re the same sculpt” when they’re not.  The chrome version is much more simplified, and the face in particular is a lot more oddly shaped.  Missing from this figure the last time around was his surfboard, which is honestly the one area where he’s truly better than his predecessor.  This one’s more streamlined, lacking the motorized bit on the back, and just generally looking more the part, provided you can get past the rather obvious wheels on the bottom.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0055: Shatterstar II

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , ,

SHATTERSTAR II

X-FORCE (TOY BIZ)

Well, last week was all special cuz it was Black Friday, but this week’s just, like, a regular Friday.  Either way, I’m doing a Flashback Friday Figure Addendum, so I guess it doesn’t matter much to me.  I’m going *way* outside my comfort zone here, with more Toy Biz Marvel, as I take a follow-up look at Shatterstar!

Ah, the 90s. What wondrous creations you gave us. The X-Men were super hyped up, so, obviously, it being the 90s, they needed an edgier, x-ier spin-off team. Enter X-Force, a slightly re-worked version of the New Mutants, with several new, more x-treme members. It had art done by Rob Liefeld, who seemed to set out to make it the most 90s thing imaginable. One of his additions was the character Shatterstar, who was either an alien or a mutant who had the amazing ability to…ummm….have swords? Yeah, I don’t know.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Shatterstar here was released as part of Series 3 of ToyBiz’s X-Force, which, like the comic, was a spin-off of the X-Men line. As the name denotes, this is the second figure of Shatterstar that the line offered. Shatterstar stands roughly 5 inches tall and features 9 points of articulation. This figure is actually based on Greg Capullo’s redesign of the character following Liefeld’s departure from the series. It’s…a little better? It’s more symmetrical, that’s for sure. That being said, he’s still got many of the 90s trademarks. He’s got pouches, shoulder pads, pouches, some weird headband thing, pouches, and that funky sunburst tattoo over just the one eye. Though, I guess you need some of that 90s flare to recognize it as Shatterstar, right? It should also be noted that Shatterstar also appears to have been doing a bit of juicing since his first figure. He looks…I don’t want to say puffy… but, yeah. He’s gotta be at least twice the size of the previous Shatterstar figure. Now, to be fair, that figure did seem a little emaciated, but this one seems to have gone a bit too far the other way. It’s not completely off the mark for Capullo’s rendition of the character, but the size feels a little bit laughable. That being said, the figure has a sculpt that is up to the standards of other ToyBiz Marvel stuff of the time. The details are nice and clean (which is certainly better that the comics) and the figure does a pretty good job of translating the comics design to three dimensions. The paintwork on Shatterstar is generally pretty clean. There’s some bleed over here and there, but nothing too noticeable. The colors are nice and bright, which is always a plus. Shatterstar included a pair of his trademark (and oh so silly looking) twin-bladed swords. Sadly, my figure doesn’t have them. He does, however, still have his action feature. His arms can be raised and locked into place, and then released by pressing the button on his pack, resulting in a slashing effect of sorts. So there!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Whilst at Balticon this year, I dug this guy out of a dollar bin of loose figures. I kind of have an addiction to the old 90s ToyBiz stuff, so I obviously had to get him (and several others…). Truth be told, goofy as he is, I kind of like Shatterstar, and this is definitely the best of his 90s figures. Certainly worth the dollar I paid!

Well, I feel like I did alright with that review.  He was from a bulk of figures purchased in the spring of 2015, which was a pretty decent run of purchases for me.  I had a lot of Toy Biz to review around this time, and I remember that was quite a pleasant thing for me.  Since I fished this guy out of a loose bin of figures for a dollar, he was missing his swords.  Thankfully, I’ve tracked down some replacements for him in the mean time, so the guy whose gimmick is “sword” now has his swords.  It’s funny that in tandem with Shatterstar getting much bulkier, his swords got smaller, so they do look pretty puny in his hands.  You can also store them on his back, though, which is pretty cool.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0054: Gambit

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , ,

GAMBIT

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

Hey, it’s Black Friday!  …which, for the purposes of this site directly…doesn’t really mean much.  You know what?  I’ll give you guys today’s Flashback Friday Figure Addendum free of charge.  How does that sound?  Like it’s the same cost as usual?  Well, yeah, sure.  But think of the value!  Anyway, here’s Gambit!

The ‘90s were quite good to the X-Men. They several top selling comics, a few video games, and a cartoon. But, most importantly, they had an awesome, hugely expansive line of action figures, courtesy of Toy Biz. Earlier figures in the line were fairly straightforward versions of the X-Men, but as the line continued, Toy Biz started experimenting with a number of different gimmicks to keep things interesting. The very first “gimmick series” gave each figure a light-up feature. Though light-up features weren’t new to the line, these figures were different in that, rather than lighting up themselves, they used a two-part light-up feature that allowed them to light up their accessories. Mostly, the series was just an excuse to release new versions of a few outdated figures. Today, I’ll be looking at Gambit from that series.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Gambit was released in the X-Men: Classic “Light-Up Weapons Series,” which was the 13th series of figures in Toy Biz’s 5-inch X-Men line. This was Gambit’s second figure in the line, after getting his first back in Series 3. The figure stands about 5 ½ inches tall and has 9 points of articulation. His articulation isn’t terrible, but the light-up feature’s inner workings are in his chest and right arm, which reduces the posablilty of the right shoulder quite a bit and also necessitates removing the usual elbow joints. Though the X-Men line was meant as a tie-in for the cartoon running at the same time, the figures tended to be more directly based on their comics appearances. Gambit actually looks to take a lot of influence from his Capcom game appearances, since he’s rather beefy and stylized. The overall look isn’t too bad, though it does seem like Gambit’s been juicing just a bit, since he’s usually more slender than he’s depicted here. He’s about to burst out of his sleeves for Pete’s sake! Also, his hands are absolutely huge, and if I’m honest the right one barely even looks like a hand at this point. The head exhibits the best sculpted work, and does quite a nice job of capturing Gambit’s smarmy personality. Gambit’s paint is fairly decent, if not fantastic. There’s a bit of slop here and there, especially on the fingers, and the pink lines on the sides of his pants are way more subtle than they should be. The color scheme they picked is once again pretty game-inspired, but it has a nice degree of pop, so no complaints here. Gambit included his usual staff, as well as a piece showing a fan of playing cards being kinetically charged, as if Gambit has just thrown them. The latter piece is the source of the light up feature. When plugged into Gambit’s right hand, the cards would light up at the push of the button on Gambit’s back.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This is another ‘90s X-Men figure that I’ve owned two of. The first was bought for me by my grandparents on my Mom’s side, I believe as a reward for finishing kindergarten. I got him and Juggernaut, but I think I mostly got Gambit because my grandparents felt I needed to get a “good guy” figure to go with the villain. Somewhere along the way, I lost that figure, so I picked up this replacement from a dealer at Balticon this year. He’s not a terrible figure, but he definitely shows his age. 

Well, honestly, that review’s really not bad.  Kind of hits all the important marks, and I stand by my assessment of the figure from the time.  He’s another figure that came from a large batch of Toy Biz figures I fished out of a big box of loose figures in the Baltic dealers room, literally the weekend after my college graduation in 2016.  None of them had any accessories, but the thing about this guy in particular is that I had one when they were new, and while I lost the figure proper, the accessories remained.  So, I simply united the two halves, and, boom, he’s got his staff and playing card effect again.  Yay for completeness!

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0052: Domino

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , ,

DOMINO

X-FORCE (TOY BIZ)

It’s finally Friday, which is great, but also feels like it took more than a week to get here, because that’s just the world we live in these days.  Let’s jump back to when it wasn’t the world we lived in with another funky Flashback Friday Figure Addendum, this time based on Domino!

Grrrrr! 90s! Everything had to be soooooo X-Treme! And no one was more X-Treme than the X-Men! Well, okay, actually, that’s not true. There was one team than was more X-Treme, by design. They were the X-Force and they were super hardcore 90s. So hard. One of their more prominent members was Domino, who had luck based powers. You know, like a domino!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Domino was released in Series 6 of ToyBiz’s X-Force line. It’s surprising to see one of the team’s higher tier members not being released until one of the last few series of the line, but, hey, it was the 90s, and we were in the worst dregs of boys thinking girl toys were icky, so…..yeah. The figure stands 5 inches tall and has 9 points of articulation. While she was fortunate enough not to be saddled with the dreaded v-style hip joints that plagued many female figures of the time, she’s completely lacking in neck articulation, and for some strange reason her elbow joints are just simple cut joints. This ends up severely limiting what can be done with the figure, which is quite a bummer. Domino featured an all-new sculpt (though it would see a couple of re-paints later on down the line). It’s…passable. They’ve done a fairly decent job of capturing the design from the comics, which, it should be noted, is her second, non-Liefeld-designed costume. It’s got all the requisite buckles, pouches, shoulder pads, and even a weird head thing! The proportions aren’t the worst thing ever and she has one of the better female faces of the time. That said, she’s rather boxy, especially in her lower half, and I’m really not sure what’s going on with the straps on her torso. They certainly can’t be comfortable configured that way. Also, she seems to have lost a row of abdominal muscles, which ends up making the legs look way too long. The paintwork on the figure is alright. Nothing amazing, but the colors are pretty good matches for the look in the comics, and there isn’t any substantial slop or bleed over. Domino originally included a set of gun attachments, which hooked into her legs. Yeah. Not really sure why they did that, since she just held the guns in her hands in the comics, but hey, whatever. Mine didn’t have them anyway.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Domino was another figure that I fished out of a box of loose figures at one of the dealer’s tables at this past Balticon. I was never really into X-Force growing up, and Domino never played a prominent role in the X-Men cartoon, so I didn’t really have a reason to get this figure while it was still new. But, it was a dollar. It’s not ToyBiz’s best work, but it isn’t atrocious. 

First and foremost, before getting into a discussion of the actual written review, I feel the need to bring up that I’ve somehow reviewed *four* Domino figures here?  I know that because this was the first one, and I had to scroll back through the other three to get to it.  I don’t even really like Domino, so that just really feels absurd.  For comparison, that’s one more Domino review than I have Longshot reviews, and she’s literally just him plus guns.  Anyway, I’m getting sidetracked.

Generally, I think I did alright with the review.  My points still more or less stand, so I can dig it.  It does include a slight factual gaffe on my part, which is linked to the main thing I’m addressing here anyway, which is the accessories.  Domino included two guns which, contrary to what my original review stated, she *could* hold in her hands.  Not very well, but still.  She also got two weird spring-loaded missiles, which sort of kind of sit in the guns and can “launch” but not very well either.  They also have pegs to be stored on her legs, which is where my confusion about the guns attaching to her legs came from.  In my defense, I was working from just the image on the back of the box at the time.  But, now I’ve fixed it, and that’s the most important part!

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0051: Firelord

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , ,

FIRELORD

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOY BIZ)

I started the week with som Toy Biz Fantastic Four, why not wrap the week with a revisit to the line?  That’s what a good Flashback Friday Figure Addendum is all about!  So, let’s return to a guy who’s probably not cracking top three on Galactus’ Heralds, Firelord!

“Once a herald of the world-devouring Galactus, Firelord was granted absolute control over all flames by his former master. Now freed from servitude, he wanders the spaceways, using his cosmic power to take what he desires! Unprincipled and mercenary, Firelord conceals his true demeanor beneath a facade of nobility and culture, but always displays his blazing abilities for all to marvel at…and fear!”

After Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introduced the concept of Galactus, and in turn his herald Silver Surfer, and then almost immediately dismantling it by having the Surfer removed from the role of herald at the end of that very story, it seemed Galactus was in need of a new herald to keep things running. The first replacement for Surfer was Air-Walker, a Xandarian who’s first appearance was not even the man himself, but a robotic duplicate, created by Galactus after the original died. The next herald after Air-Walker was another Xandarian (who was actually a friend of Air-Walker pre-herald transformation), Firelord. Firelord would follow in the path set by Silver Surfer, eventually asking to be released from his duties as herald, and forging out on his own. He’s remained a minor recurring character on the cosmic side of things at Marvel. As a herald of Galactus, he got himself a spot in Toy Biz’s FF line in the ’90s. I’m taking a look at that figure today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Firelord was released in Series 2 of the Fantastic Four line. Unlike Thanos, who was notably never in the cartoon that the line was tying into, Firelord actually got a brief appearance on the show. Not that it really amounted to much, since it was little more than a cameo, but hey, there it was. Of note, he was actually voiced by Alan Oppenheimer, better known as the voice of Skeletor. Fun times. Until his Minimate release, this was Firelord’s only action figure. The figure stands about 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation. He sports a sculpt that remained unique to this release. It’s a pretty decent one. Nothing overly showy or anything. Generally it just sticks to the basics, but it’s good at that. He’s got some minor detailing for the flame effects, which are a little on the soft side, but get the point across. The strongest portion of the sculpt is definitely the head, which sticks closer to the comics interpretation of the character, with his rather other-worldly cheek bones and all. Firelord’s paint work is alright. It’s not quite as bold and differentiated as some of his colors tended to be in the comics, but the general look again works pretty well, apart from some slight muddying of the colors without any real clear outlines. That said, it’s not terrible. Not terrible at all. Firelord was packed with his flaming staff, dubbed “Cosmic Flame Launcher” on the package. It’s in two parts, and one part launched like a missile out of the other. I’ve only actually got the missile part anymore, which is the half that looks more convincingly like his staff anyway.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve mentioned before on the site about Ageless Heroes, a comic store nearby that had a rather huge going out of business sale when I was between six and seven. It served as a pretty sizable boon to my 5 inch Marvel collection as a kid. Firelord here was one of the figures from that boon. He wasn’t actually bought as Firelord, since I didn’t really know the character, but instead got initial use as a Jim Hammond Human Torch. I did eventually learn who Firelord was, courtesy of a copy of his appearance in Uncanny Origins, which I got from Ageless Heroes’ back-issues, in fact. He’s not a perfect figure, or anything, but he’s certainly one I got a lot of use out of as a kid.

That review was from 2022, making it an astoundingly new review for a revisit.  Curiously, it managed to only *just* beat the Legends Firelord’s release, so I still reviewed them chronologically.  We won’t bring up that the Minimate should be between the two of them, though, because it makes me look bad, and I don’t do that around here.  Never.  It hasn’t been enough time for me to really change my opinion on the figure, so I shan’t.  I will, however, show off the newly replaced other half of his staff, because there it is!  It’s real bulky, and pretty much impossible for him to hold and seems needlessly complicated, but there it is.