Category Archives: Flashback Friday Figure Addendum

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0067: Luke Skywalker – Ceremonial Outfit

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

LUKE SKYWALKER — CEREMONIAL OUTFIT

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

It’s Friday!  Welcome to Friday!  We made it Friday!  I mean, I hope.  I’m writing this on Sunday, and really just hoping for the best here, because boy has it sure been touch and go, huh?  But let’s not think about that.  Let’s think about the past, specifically mine, as we flashback for another figure addendum, with a return to Luke!

“In the main throne room of a Massassi temple, Luke Skywalker receives an honorary medal for his part in the destruction of the Imperial Death Star.”

There’s a lot of potential Luke Skywalker variants out there. He got one distinct design for each movie, plus his pilot gear, and at least one other major look for each film. For A New Hope, he actually has four distinct looks. My personal favorite is one that doesn’t actually appear for all that long; it’s the snazzy dress outfit he wears during the film’s final scene, set during an award ceremony. It’s had less figures than other looks, but as a variant of Luke Skywalker, it’s still had its fair share.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke Skywalker in his Ceremonial Outfit was released as part of the 1997 assortment of Star Wars: Power of the Force II. He was the seventh of the eleven Lukes in the line, and the second-to-last unique outfit, prior to the line switching over to variations of Farmboy Luke. It was actually one of two Ceremonial Lukes released in 1997, the other being part of the Princess Leia Collection. It was a good year for a look that hadn’t yet seen an action figure release. The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation. This Luke marked the debut of Kenner’s second POTF2 Luke head sculpt. As noted in the past, it’s not really much closer than the first attempt at a Hamill likeness, but I do tend to prefer this one. The rest of the sculpt is unique to this particular figure. As far as this line goes, it was pretty solid. Sharp detailing, reasonable proportions, and a fairly neutral stance, all of which add up to an above average figure from this particular line. The paintwork on Luke is pretty standard stuff, which is to say the colors are a good match for the film and the application is all sharp. There’s no slop to speak of, and everything stays within its appropriate lines. Luke was packed with a blaster pistol and his medal from the ceremony, which are both missing from my figure, sadly.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This was a fairly early Luke in my collection, and is probably one of the Power of the Force figures I purchased closest to his initial release. I got him from KB Toys, during a trip to the mall with my Grandmother. He was purchased alongside a whole bunch of others, but the others were all meant to stay at her house, with this guy being the one who would be going home with me. He’s remained a favorite of mine, and served as my go-to Luke for a good chunk of time. 

In 2017, I got pretty serious about making Power of the Force reviews a regular feature every other Saturday, and by March of 2018, when this review was originally published, I’d kept it going for quite a while.  I pretty much managed to keep it that way until March of 2020, when, you know, everything fell apart.  This was before my big dive back into the line, mind you, so I thought I was actually getting close to wrapping things up.  Quaint.  My actual review feels pretty basic, but not bad.  Missing at the time were his two accessories, which are now his once more.  Check out that medal and blaster action!

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0066: Wolverine

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

WOLVERINE

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

It’s Friday!  We have once more made it to the end of the week!  Oh boy, that was rough, huh?  Well, let’s jump into another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum.  Once more, we’re looking into the world of Toy Biz, with a second look at Wolverine!

“When it comes to fighting Evil Mutants, the X-Men know there’s no one better than Wolverine! With his razor-sharp adamantium claws, his lightning-quick reflexes and his unmatched combat experience, Wolverine can outfight anyone! Thanks to his super-fast mutant healing ability, in just a few short hours he’s totally healthy and ready for action again, no matter how serious his wounds!”

Would you believe there was a time when a Wolverine figure was an exciting and new thing? I know, that’s a bit hard to grasp. But, until Mattel’s Secret Wars line, there were no Wolverine figures at all. And that one wasn’t even all that good! He’d have to wait until 1992 for a second go, courtesy of Toy Biz’s then-newly-launched X-Men line. He would be the first of very, very many.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wolverine was released in Series 1 of the X-Men line. He was actually unique amongst the 5-inch X-Men figures for being in Wolverine’s brown costume. It was still his current look when these figures hit (which is more than could be said for a number of his Series 1 compatriots), but it was quickly replaced by the returning tiger-stripe design, which would be the main focus for a good decade. The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall (making it one of Toy Biz’s few offerings to truly stick to Wolverine’s proper stature) and he has 7 points of articulation. His sculpt was new to him, and remained unique for all of Toy Biz’s run. It’s a pretty decent one for the time. While it doesn’t quite eclipse the likes of Magneto and Nightcrawler, it’s still really quite good. The build of the body is probably the strongest aspect; Wolverine figures tend to overlook his distinctive stature, so this one getting it down so well is certainly notable. The head’s not quite as strong. This was really the first time that Logan’s hair was translated into three dimensions, so they were still sorting it all out. It ends up looking a little goofy and sort of impossible, but it’s not terrible. Wolverine’s paintwork is reasonable, though not anything outstanding. The base colors are all pretty decent recreations of the comics look, and he’s rather eye-catching. There’s some unevenness with the lines in a few spots, especially on the torso. Wolverine was packed with his mask, which works surprisingly well for the scale, as well as a katana. He was also the first Wolverine to feature the popping claw action, which allowed him to simulate Wolverine’s signature “snikt” move. It robs his arms of any elbow movement, and the claws are required to be rather small to facilitate. That said, it works reasonably well, and is certainly fun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was too young to get Wolverine new, and he wasn’t one that was prone to showing up later on. Fortunately, Cosmic Comix had me covered there, and I got this guy not too long after getting into collecting. He’s actually not a bad figure, and despite the sort of odd removable mask, it was one of the better Wolverines from the line.

This was written in the summer of 2018, and, if I’m honest, I remember very little about writing it.  Looking at the reviews around it, I think I probably wrote either during or immediately before my family vacation that year, so I might have had my mind on other things.  It was also the year of Infinity War, and the onslaught of Marvel product that accompanied it, so I might have even been a little burned out.  I think I did alright by him in the writing, though.  The only thing missing when I reviewed him was his katana, which I’ve since found, so aha, here it is!  He can’t hold it especially well, but I guess it’s still cool.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0065: Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper Disguise

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

LUKE SKYWALKER in STORMTROOPER DISGUISE

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Welcome to the end of another week!  Once more it’s Friday, which means it’s time for another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum!  Jumping back over to the Star Wars side of things, I’m revisiting Luke Skywalker, of the disguised as a Stormtrooper variety!

 “Disguised as stormtroopers and fighting off a regiment of Imperial troops inside the Death Star, the escaping band of heroes finds refuge in a garbage receptacle. The Rebels realize their problem has changed when the walls begin closing in.”

So, apparently there was this movie released yesterday. Star Wars? Kind of a big deal I guess. While I’m still totally up to date on the actual Last Jedi stuff in my collection, I still have plenty of older figures in the backlog. And, since I looked at the Stormtrooper Disguise Han Solo two weeks ago, why not take a looksie at his companion Luke figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke Skywalker as Stormtrooper was released in the 1996 assortment of Power of the Force II, as that year’s third variant of Luke, and the fifth overall Luke in the line. This was our second Stormtrooper Disguise Luke, following the one released in the original Power of the Force line. He’s about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation. Despite how it may look, the only re-used piece on this guy is the torso, which is the same one used on the Stormtrooper Han. Nevertheless, he’s still the same height as Han and the basic troopers, meaning he’s not actually short for a Stormtrooper. Instead of Han’s more pre-posed look, Luke has a more generic standing pose, which looks decent enough. He still follows the general style of the line, so he’s far more muscle bound than any of the troopers we see on screen. But, like I said with Han, if you’re gonna have the style, I guess it’s best to stick with it. His head is a re-working of the early PotF2 Luke head. It’s not one of the better Hamill likenesses, but it’s not as terrible as some of the early sculpts. Plus, it means he fits with the rest of them, which I suppose is for the best. The paint on Luke is fairly straight forward stuff. It’s pretty clean overall, and matches up with the rest of the line pretty well. Luke was packed with a removable helmet (the same one included with Han) and a standard Stormtrooper blaster. It’s a pretty standard set of extras, but more than one accessory is always nice with a Star Wars figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After getting Han as a mail-away, I was on the look out for this guy. It took him a little while to hit, but I ended up finding him at Another Universe, the comic book store in the local mall. I was pretty excited for him, and he makes for a pretty cool pairing with Han to be sure.

This review went up the day after the release of The Last Jedi.  It would have most certainly been written before I saw the movie, more than likely a week or two in advance.  I had no idea at the time what kind of response we were in for.  Man, what a wonderfully blissful time that was, huh?  As far as the actual review, this one was pretty well on point.  I think he’s generally an okay figure, albeit a rather dated one.  The only thing missing from my original was his blaster rifle, which I’ve since replaced.  Yay, he can shoot people now.  Also, for some reason I didn’t have turnarounds for this guy, so I’m adding those too!

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0064: Avalanche

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

AVALANCHE

X-FORCE (TOY BIZ)

The week, she is once more at an end.  Honestly, feels like it flew by, but maybe not in the best way.  But, the main point is, we made it to Friday!  Alright!  Go us!  Let’s have another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum, this time jumping back over to my little Toy Biz Marvel corner of the world with a return to Avalanche!  Why would anyone want to return to Avalanche?  Your guess is as good as mine.

 “A mutant with the ability to control earth and rock, Avalanche’s powers earned him a place in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants! Now operating largely on his own, or in the company of his allies, the Blob and Pyro, Avalanche strikes not so much out of hatred for normal humans, but from a desire to make a profit!”

Back in the ‘90s, the X-Men were super hot, and by, extension, the various X-Men spin-offs were super hot. X-Force, the spawn of everyone’s favorite artist Rob Liefeld, was inexplicably successful, but only the actual team seemed to get real notoriety. The villains were mostly forgettable, however, so for the toyline Toy Biz borrowed a few classic X-Men baddies, including today’s focus character, Avalanche!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Avalanche was released in Series 5 of Toy Biz’s X-Force toyline. He was the second of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants figures featured in this particular line, following Pyro. Seeing how the two of them were a semi-recurrent pair on X-Men: The Animated Series, it was a pretty sensible inclusion, I suppose. The figure stands 5 1/2 inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation. He got extra disk joints on his hips, which I guess was kind of nice. It does seem a little bit odd that Avalanche of all people got extra special articulation, but I’m not gonna fight it. HIs sculpt was all new to this particular figure, and it was fairly decent for the era. The proportions are a little exaggerated, obviously, but given that he was in the X-Force line, it’s actually fairly balanced. There articulation could perhaps be worked in a bit better, but it’s not awful. The details of the costume are pretty clean, and I do like the intensity of the expression on what we can see of his face. It’s a bit of a shame that his helmet is permanently affixed, since he had it off rather frequently on the cartoon, but it looks good, and that’s ultimately the most important thing. Avalanche’s paintwork is fairly standard, mostly silver and blue. It looks decent enough, though it’s perhaps not the most thrilling color scheme. Avalanche was originally packed with an “Exploding Rock Platform” which demonstrated his powers via action feature. My figure was purchased loose, however, so he doesn’t include this piece.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Avalanche is a rather recent addition to my ‘90s Marvel collection, picked up over the summer from Yesterday’s Fun. They had a number of old X-Men figures, and this was one I kept meaning to grab, but never got around to. He’s a pretty decent figure of a character I admittedly don’t have a ton of attachment to. Nevertheless, I’m happy to have him, and he brings me one step closer to completing this collection.

In 2017, when I wrote that review, I was batting back and forth between more comical reviews and more serious ones, and Avalanche wound up as the latter.  Alas, it means my witty intro about how he never got much of a a character arc beyond “being Pyro’s buddy” wasn’t until I reviewed his Marvel Legend.  I instead used this one to rag on X-Force a bit, which, you know what?  Fair.  My review of the actual figure seems pretty solid.  Still really don’t know why he got the extra movement on the hips, but it is what it is.  In 2017, he was missing his stand, but in 2026, he’s got it once more.  It’s a rather neat piece, and demonstrates the powers about as well as I think you can.  It also keeps him very stable, which comes in handy with those hips.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0063: TIE Fighter Pilot

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

TIE FIGHTER PILOT

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Hey-o, and welcome to the end of the week! We did it again, you guys!  Here we are! It’s Friday, so it’s a beautiful day for some addendum-ing!  Let’s flip back over to the world of Star Wars and take a follow-up look at the TIE Fighter Pilot!

“With its vast space fleet, the Imperial Navy is a model of military efficiency. The best pilots in its ranks are rigorously trained to useto use highly maneuverable and heavily armed Twin Ion Engine (TIE) fighters. The small ships are used to both attack – and defend against – Rebel forces.”

Do I have to turn in my nerd card if I admit that until I read that bio in preparation for this review, I actually had no clue what TIE stood for? I kinda thought it was because they looked like bow ties. Now I know, and knowing is half the battle! Wait, wrong 3 3/4-inch-based franchise! Without further ado, let’s look at one of these Twin Ion Engine fighter pilots!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The TIE Fighter Pilot was released in 1996, during Power of the Force II’s second year. This marks the second time this design had been seen in plastic, following the vintage figure. The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation, which was standard for the line. The figure’s sculpt was unique to him, and does a fairly decent job of capturing the TIE design from the movies. He’s surprisingly tame in his stylization and his pre-posing, and also helped by not having a likeness to really worry about. The lack of pre-pose is likely owed to his intended use with the actual TIE Fighter vehicle (which, fun fact, arrived on store shelves a year before this guy’s release), since too much of a pose would have made seating him in the ship rather difficult. I appreciate that the figure’s been designed in such a way as to keep his neck movement, by way of attaching the tubes and box to his head. It can look a little weird when turned to certain angles, but is by-and-large a well-worked out concept. The paint on this guy could have been rather lazy and un-inspired, but Kenner went the extra mile and added differing sheens to the various black tones, as well as making sure he has all of the proper insignias. It’s really quite remarkable work. This figure was packed with two different blasters, one large, and one small. Neither really seems to go with the figure, and mine has been without both for a little while.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When I was growing up, in addition to grandchild-specific gifts, both sets of grandparents would tend to go out and buy one smaller item in bulk, to give everyone that one same item. The TIE Fighter was one such gift, given to all of the grandkids on my Dad’s side one year for Christmas. We were all pretty into Star Wars at the time, so it was pretty sensible. While I’ve never really had a particular attachment to the TIE Fighter pilot, I do still really like this guy, and he’s always been a steady fixture of my collection.

This is another 2017 review, written in the midst of a rather hectic summer of multiple cross-country trips and a coast-line-spanning move.  I’d jumped back into Power of the Force with a batch of figures I’d gotten for cheap in February of that year, and moved onto the prior entries already in my collection.  In the midst of all the craziness, I’ll admit, I completely forgot the bit about what “TIE” stood for.  In one ear and out the other and all that.  The actual review covers the basics well-enough, I suppose.  He was at the time missing both of blasters, but I’ve since replaced them.  The larger one is particular comedic in its sizing, which I find quite amusing.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0062: Green Lantern

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

GREEN LANTERN

DC SUPER HEROES (TOY BIZ)

It’s Friday!  We made it to Friday, you guys!  High five!  Good for us!  Let’s celebrate with another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum.  I know, it’s such a special occasion.  Sticking to the usual, it *is* a Toy Biz figure, but in a break from the norms, it’s not Marvel, but DC.  Let’s take another look at Green Lantern!

The now defunct toy company Toybiz is a name that is most commonly associated with making Marvel toys. This isn’t surprising, of course. They ended up bailing Marvel out of bankruptcy in the mid-90s, leading to them becoming a part of Marvel proper and thereby passing the name onto Marvel’s in-house toy making branch. However, their first major property was not Marvel. No, it was actually Marvel’s main competition, DC. See, when Super Powers ended, DC was looking to move the DC license elsewhere. They turned to a small upstart company by the name of Toybiz, who launched a line simply titled DC Superheroes. The line was pretty much the same scale as Kenner’s Super Powers, mostly because it was pretty much just a slightly lower budget version of Super Powers. The sculpts were just slightly tweaked and made out of inferior plastic. Needless to say, DC wasn’t thrilled by this offering, and after just two series, the rights reverted back to Kenner. Today, I’ll be taking a look at that line’s version of Green Lantern!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Green Lantern was released in the second series of Toy Biz’s DC Super Heroes line. The figure is just shy of 5 inches tall and he features 7 points of articulation. The second series is a little different from the first in that they actually featured new sculpts, rather than just retooled SP ones. So, for better or for worse, GL got a brand new sculpt, wholly unique from his SP counterpart. I suppose it’s not fair to compare the work of Kenner at their prime to that of Toybiz in their infancy, but the sculpt of the TB Green Lantern is not up to the quality of his predecessor. The sculpt is wide and oddly proportioned. He’s got these bent arms, which are honestly impressive, because I’m surprised he could bend arms that thick. The torso is huge and ill defined, and the legs lack any real detail. The head looks not unlike a papier-mâché head sculpted over a balloon, which is not a compliment. To top it all off, the joints are horrendously obvious, to the point where you have to question if they did that on purpose. I suppose if I were really trying to find something nice to say, I’d say he bears a passing resemblance to the Filmation version of the character, which isn’t a terrible thing. The paint is…well it’s there. It’s mostly cleanly applied, but other than that, there’s not much to be said of it. The figure is incredibly shiny, which really plays up the whole obvious toy angle. The figure came with an array to let him squirt water from his ring or something. I don’t know, I bought mine loose.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure is another from the haul I picked up during the summer from the super cool Yesterday’s Fun. As an avid Green Lantern collector, it’s a figure I’d been looking to pick up for some time now, I’d just never gotten around to it. They had one for a reasonable price, so I went for it. Now I’m reminded of why I put off buying it. It’s not a terrible figure, it’s just overwhelmingly mediocre. It feels like one of those incredibly obvious toys they’d use on a TV show to more easily convey that it’s a toy. I just don’t quite know what they were thinking with this one, especially since it followed up figures that re-used the far superior Super Powers sculpts. 

This review came from way back in my first year, from right at the tail end of it, in fact.  While not the kindest review I’ve ever written, I can’t say I find it all that inaccurate.  I do think the Filmation angle’s grown more on me over the years, which has made my appreciation of the figure a bit greater.  In my original review, I was lacking all of the figure’s accessories, which I’ve subsequently replaced.  He has the apparatus for squirting water, as mentioned in the original review, as well as a power battery and a wearable prop ring.  The water squirting bit is very gimmicky, but fun, I suppose, and the other extras are actually pretty nice.

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.