Category Archives: Flashback Friday Figure Addendum

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0097: B.A.T.

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

B.A.T.

G.I. JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO (HASBRO)

Hey there, it’s Friday.  Well, that sure is nice, I suppose.  Made it to the end of the week and all.  Aren’t we all so proud?  I am.  Okay, so let’s do that whole Flashback thing I like to do at the end of the week, once more jumping back into the world of G.I. Joe, with a return look at the original Cobra B.A.T.!

After being a fairly straightforward military-based line of toys, and then a mostly down to earth adventure series for the first 20 years of its life, in the 80s, G.I. Joe gave up on that whole real world thing and threw caution to the wind. Okay, that’s not true. The first year of the 3 ¾ inch line was actually pretty modest. Then 1983 added Destro and Gung-Ho to the line and all bets were off. Prepare for the neon colors, the wacky specialists, and even the Battle Android Troopers!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The B.A.T. was released in the 1986 series of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (which, as I noted in my Lifeline review, was a pretty good year for the line). The figure is 3 ¾ inches tall and has 15 points of articulation. That’s one more point than most of the line! Structurally, the figure was all new at the time, though his pieces would get used for a few other figures (though, none of them were B.A.T.s. It depicts the B.A.T. in its Cobra uniform, but there are actually some nice hints at it being a robot under the clothes, rather than just a normal person. The details are generally pretty sharp, at least for a figure of the time, and the mechanical arms in particular are very nicely detailed. The B.A.T. definitely looks unique from the other Cobra forces, while still fitting in great stylistically. The figure originally had a lenticular piece in the middle of the torso, detailing some of the B.A.T.’s internal mechanics. Sadly, my figure does not have this piece. The paint on the B.A.T. is decent, though not the greatest thing ever. The orange/yellow bits are a bit on the sloppy side, especially around the edges. That said, the overall look is pretty good. The Bat is pretty well accessorized, with four different right hand attachments (normal hand, claw, flame thrower, and gun), as well as a backpack to hold the extra attachments. Also, my figure has a small pistol thrown in, but that isn’t from the original figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up the B.A.T. loose from local toy store All Time Toys this past summer. I’ve always loved the B.A.T. design, and I’ve had several of the figures over the years, but I never had the original. Now I do! He’s a pretty nifty little figure, though I do think he’s been surpassed by a few of his successors.

This review was published in November of 2015, about two months after I got the figure.  I believe I slotted him in relatively quickly for review, but the fall of 2015 was honestly a really populated time for new items in need of review.  I’d gotten more inventive in how I mixed things up to keep the reviews more unique over that summer, and I was keeping that going at the time.  The review proper I think holds up pretty well.  It’s one of my briefer text pieces, but that’s not always a bad thing.  Missing at the time of the original review was the figure’s chest lenticular, which I’ve since found a replacement for.  It adds a nice bit of pop to the figure, and certainly makes him look more, you know, finished.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0096: Time Traveler

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TIME TRAVELER

MICRONAUTS (PALISADES)

Welcome to Friday everyone! We made it! Hooray!  And I’m here to talk about Micronauts, for a second time in the same week!  Is that even legal?  We’ll find out, I guess.  Here’s a second look at the Time Traveler!

Mego’s Micronauts line of the ‘70s was never a super huge hit, and it was definitely overshadowed by the many toys first toylines of the ‘80s, but it does still have something of a cult following. This cult following helped get the line a relaunch in the early 2000s, courtesy of fan-favorite toy company Palisades. Palisades put a lot of effort into bringing Micronauts back. Sadly, the line was cursed with several pretty awful factory issues, causing the final figures to suffer, hurting the sales of what was already a pretty niche line. This came back to bite Palisades pretty hard, leading to the end of their Micronauts line after just two full series, and their eventual bankruptcy. Kind of a bummer. So hey, how ‘bout those figures, though? Let’s have a look at what is perhaps the most iconic of all Micronauts figures, the Time Traveler!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Time Traveler was part of the first series of Palisades’ Micronauts line. The figure was available in four possible color schemes, two transparent and two opaque. This one is the clear translucent one, which is a pretty direct recreation of one of the original Time Travelers, with just a few minor differences. He’s 3 ¾ inches tall and he has 18 points of articulation, same as his 70s predecessor. Sculpturally, this figure is more or less identical to the original version, but there are a few differences to note. The real differences are on the head, which is a little thinner than the original and features a higher level of detail work. It’s certainly a higher quality sculpt than the original, though I’m not sure I prefer it to the original. It’s in that weird area of being a more modernized sculpt that still possesses many of the style tics of the vintage toy, but without the nostalgic charm. The Time Traveler possesses no actual paint, but his head and all of his chest plates are done in a nice vac-metalized gold. The golden head is actually another change from the vintage figures, where all of the Time Travelers were silver. While the original Time Traveler figures each only included a single chest plate, chosen at random from the four possible designs, Palisades’ Time Traveler included all four of the original plates, as well as two new designs (though, I could only find four of the chest plates when I went to take the pictures!). My personal favorite is the “windows” piece, but they’re all pretty cool. The Time Traveler also included the L-port piece from the original figure, as well as a black display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Palisades’ Micronauts line, amongst other things, was not super easy to find, especially before the introduction of all the online toy buying options we now have. I did end up finding a Time Traveler at an out of the way toy store around the time of release, but it wasn’t this one. Unfortunately, the first series figures were incredibly fragile and he ended up breaking, which was a definite bummer. I ended up getting this guy many years later, courtesy of the Toy Robot Museum, near Allentown, PA. Even with all of the factory issues and the slight changes from the originals, this guy’s a lot of fun, and I’m definitely glad I managed to find one.

In October of 2015, I decided to rip the band-aid off on discussing Palisades’ Micronauts, and really did just jump right into it there, huh?  Back when they were new, I was downright obsessed with the Palisades run, but I only owned four of them during the line’s actual run. It was ultimately better that way, I think, because it’s a frustrating line.   My review holds up fine, but I was missing two of the chest plates at the time, which I’ve since found again.  Unfortunately, in the mean time, he’s also succumb to the dreaded Series 1 quality control issues, and one of his elbow joints has cracked, so these new photos are *very* carefully staged.  I do still love these figures, but it’s definitely better from afar.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0095: Ultron

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

ULTRON

THE VAULT (TOY BIZ)

We have arrived, dear readers, at another Friday, so it’s time for another installment of Flashback Friday Figure Addendum!  Today, we jump back a decade and some change, with a follow up look at Ultron!

Countdown to Avengers: Age of Ultron: 5 days remaining.

Alright, now we get to the main event! Before, I was looking at figures of the various Avengers members from the upcoming movie, but from here on out, it’s all Ultron all the time! Poor Ultron went quite a while without seeing any action figures. He didn’t even get a figure in Mattel’s Secret Wars line, despite being a part of the comic upon which the toyline had been based (thanks Mattel…). He was finally granted a figure during ToyBiz’s 5-inch Marvel heyday.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultron was released as part of ToyBiz’s The Vault line. The Vault was one of several one series lines that ToyBiz released around the same time, covering lots of different parts of the Marvel universe. The Vault is named after the Marvel universe high-security prison of the same name, and it featured a line-up of three lesser-known Marvel villains. This figure is on the larger side for this scale, at roughly 6 inches in height, and he has 16 points of articulation. The figure features an all-new sculpt, which remained unique to this figure. I’m not 100% certain, but I don’t believe this design is one from the comics. It definitely isn’t the “classic” Ultron, that’s for sure. It plays up the more robotic aspects of the character, which I suppose is a plus, but it lacks the elegant simplicity of the classic design. All that said, it’s a perfectly reasonable sculpt from a purely aesthetic standpoint. There are a nice variety of textures and details, and that helps to liven the figure up a bit. I quite like the clawed hands and two-toed feet. The head is probably the figure’s weakest point(and that’ll be a recurring point for the rest of the week); Ultron’s had loads of different body types over the years, but the one thing to remain fairly consistent is his head. It’s not awful here, but it’s pretty far from the standard Ultron noggin. It’s too thin, and it looks particularly pinched around the antennae. And speaking of those antennae, they represent another pretty big departure from the usual Ultron look. They should be further down on his head, hovering over his cheeks. Instead, they start where his “ears” would be and go upwards, looking a bit like a rabbit’s ears. The figure also suffers from some somewhat wonky paint apps. The actual color of his outer shell is wildly inconsistent, ranging from sliver with very slight blue overtones to a rather deep metallic blue in a few areas. Also, there’s this weird thing on his torso and lower legs where he’s got these strange somewhat transparent dark grey brush strokes. I don’t really know what they’re supposed to be, but they just kind of stick out and they were rather different from figure to figure. Ultron was packed with some sort of containment piece, which went over his head and hands and plugged into his shoulder. It was kind of cool, but ultimately non-essential (and I lost mine anyway). In addition to the restraints, Ultron also has a light-u feature, which made his eyes glow red when a button on his back was pushed.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure was actually my very first exposure to the character of Ultron. My dad, who was an avid Avengers fan, purchased one for himself, and when I asked who he was I was presented with several of his comic appearances to read. I pretty much immediately fell in love with the character. Not long after, I received my own Ultron figure as a Christmas gift from my good friend Pat Sponagle. Sure, he’s not the most accurate Ultron figure, but he was the only one in existence at the time. And, as the old saying goes, beggars can’t be choosers. Eventually, I got the more classically inspired United They Stand Ultron, but this one served as one of my favorite figures up to that point, and he still holds some meaning to me. Inaccuracies aside, he’s a good toy.

I’ve encountered a few of these pre-Age of Ultron reviews in my addendums, and its an interesting reflection to see how excited I was for a movie that a lot of people just sort of overlooked.  11 years later, I’ve gone back and forth on my feelings a little bit, but I do think Age of Ultron is still the Avengers movie that feels the most like an actual Avengers comic, so I stand by my excitement.  Part of the countdown was reviewing all of the Ultron figures in my collection at the time, in successive order, which started off with this review.  It’s a review I stand by.  This isn’t a *bad* figure, but it sets a trend for sort of wonky Ultrons, especially from Toy Biz.  Missing from my original review were the figure’s accessories, namely a shoulder-mounted cannon and a set of restraints, which I have subsequent re-discovered.  As noted in the original review, they’re sort of weird and non-essential, but pretty fun.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0094: Space Glider

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

SPACE GLIDER

MICRONAUTS (MEGO)

Hey, ho, it’s Friday, you guys!  That means it’s time for another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum!  This week, we’re taking a jump back to a line I haven’t jumped back to before, Micronauts, with the guy what glides through space, Space Glider!

One line that I am surprised I haven’t talked about more on this site is Micronauts. Before I was firmly on the Minimates train, there were few lines that filled me with as much joy as Micronauts. For those of you that don’t know, Micronauts began its life as a Japanese toyline called Henshin Cyborg, which were actually the Japanese equivalent of the original GI Joes. Toymaker Takara decided to make a line of smaller scale figures, called Microman. In 1976, US toymaker Mego decided to import the line under the title Micronauts. The figures are some of the earliest 3 ¾ inch figures, and they ended up having quite a few lasting contributions to toys in general, even if the Micronauts themselves may not be as widely remembered. Today, I’ll be taking a look at one of the line’s heroic characters, the Space Glider!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Space Glider was released in the first series of Mego’s Micronauts line. He was available in three different colors: Blue, Green, and Yellow. In case you couldn’t tell from the pictures, the one being reviewed is blue. The Space Glider is about 3 ¾ inches tall and he has 16 points of articulation. It’s also worth noting that, aside from the head and hands, the whole figure is made from die cast metal. It means the figure is pretty darn sturdy, and he has quite a bit of heft to him. Space Glider was an import of the Super Steel Microman M21X, from the Microman line. His sculpt is essentially the same. While the sculpt does show its age a bit, it’s certainly well done for the time. The torso and arms have lots of hard angles, which look really good. His head is a great, generic “70s space hero” look, although the vac-metalizing has made some of the details a little soft. This figure has some definite style to it, which really makes it stand out. The paint work on the Space Glider is fairly basic, but well done. All of the blue areas are done with a very nice metallic sheen, and the color is nice and evenly applied. Everything else is pretty much just molded in the proper color, but it looks good. The Space Glider included a helmet and a wingpack, both of which are sadly missing from mine.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got the Space Glider from the Antique Depot, an antique store not far from where I live. I saw him while walking through during Ellicott City’s annual Midnight Madness event. The Space Glider has long been my favorite of Micronauts figure, but I had never had one of the originals. With some light prodding from my friends Tim and Jill, I purchased the figure. The Space Glider really holds up. He’s a really strong figure, and he’s just a lot of fun!

I ran this review the day after Christmas in 2014, and in fact wrote it a few days before.  I used to go out of town with my family for the holidays, which meant not having ready access to my photo tent set-up, so no new photos could be taken until after we got back, so I’d have a small handful of figures that would sort of fill-in.  This guy, and the Time Traveller bought at the same time, were sort of the perfect set-up, having been bought at the beginning of the month.  In terms of the actual review, well, I think it does hold up alright.  He’s got sort of a kitschy quality about him that’s always fun.  Since I bought him loose at an antique store, he didn’t have his helmet or wing pack at the time, and in fact spent a good while with some Palisades pieces standing in on the shelf, but I finally broke down and bought proper replacements a few months back.  I really do love this figure, and he holds up really well for a figure that’s 50 years old this year.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0093: Tomar Re

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

TOMAR RE

GREEN LANTERN (MATTEL)

Hello and welcome to Friday!  It’s a great day for a Friday.  Or, at least, it’s Friday, which is, let’s face it, the day for Friday.  It’s also the Friday before the finale of Lanterns, and I marked the Friday before the premier with a throwback to a movie GL review, so I’m gonna mark the finale with another one of those.  So, let’s return back to one of my very favorite Green Lanterns, Tomar Re!

The 2011 Green Lantern was certainly not the greatest thing to be shown on the silver screen. That being said it’s far from the worst, and I personally found it to be about on par with the Tim Burton Batman films, which suited me just fine. One of the nice things about one of your favorite characters getting a movie is all the toys that are bound to be released to coincide. Sadly, while I found the Green Lantern movie to be inoffensive, the same can’t be said for the vast majority of the toys released for it. One of the few figures from the line I didn’t hate is Tomar Re, the subject of today’s review.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Tomar Re was technically part of the first series of Green Lantern figures, but he was not amongst the initial assortment of figures. I think he came in the second wave of product. The figure is about 3 ¾ inches tall and he features 8 points of articulation. The articulation is one of the most annoying parts of this line, because it was about 10 years out of date at the time of release. It’s completely useless for anything outside of a standing pose, and in some cases it couldn’t even do that. Case in point, Tomar’s right leg is slightly warped, and the articulation is such that standing is not a thing that happens. Tomar’s sculpt is fine. There was a deluxe Tomar in wonky colors that was released first, so technically this one’s a re-use of that one. There’s some okay texture work on the body, which is nice, I suppose. However, the head is rather smooth, and definitely too squat for the character. In fact, the whole body is off when compared to the on screen character. He’s just too bulky. Were this figure 10-15 years older, the scale might be excusable, but come on, Hasbro’s Battle Droids from 1999 looked better than this. The paintwork is rather vaguely handled. In some places, lines are very sharp, but in others, everything just sort of runs together. That’s sort of what they looked like in the movie, but it wasn’t this bad. He just ends up being a bit of a mush of colors. Tomar included a construct of some sort, but I threw all the constructs together, so I don’t remember which was his.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Tomar from a Walmart near where I was vacationing the year these were released. This was notably two days AFTER I broke down and bought the wonky colored deluxe Tomar because I hadn’t been able to find this one. Yay. It’s hard to say much about this figure that isn’t negative. I honestly don’t hate it, and I really think it was one of the better small scale figures Mattel offered in this line, but that isn’t saying much. There’s a reason this line didn’t sell well, and it wasn’t the poor performance of the movie.

Tomar here ran about a month into my second year here on the site, and would have been one of my “pull from the randomized list” reviews, which I actually did quite a bit of at the time.  He was my third review from the movie line, and I was definitely wearing a bit thin on the line already.  I was pretty fresh off of its initial release, and the disappointment the line brought me was immense.  I think I maybe took that out on this figure in particular more than maybe others, which isn’t quite so fair, because, yes, he’s got the flaws of the rest of the line, but he ultimately holds up alright.  When I reviewed him, I noted that I had thrown all the constructs together and couldn’t recall which one was his.  Apparently, the idea of, oh, I don’t know, looking it up was a foreign one for past me.  It’s actually some sort of a harpoon launcher looking thing?  It’s weird, but not awful.  He also included one of those wearable rings that were super small.  Tomar Re is my favorite of the alien Green Lanterns, and also my favorite part of the 2011 movie, and I think maybe my high expectations came down on him in my original review.  Upon revisiting, he’s one of the figures from the line I don’t mind so much.  He’s even, dare I say, kind of fun.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0092: Snake Eyes & Agent Scarlett

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

SNAKE EYES & AGENT SCARLETT

G.I. JOE VS COBRA (HASBRO)

Behold!  It is Friday!  The day at the end of the week where I do all the flashing back with the addendums and what have you!  What a day!  This week’s jump back into the past is jumping over into the G.I. Joe side of things, with a return look at Snake Eyes and Agent Scarlett!

In 1965, Hasbro invented the action figure with the very first GI Joe. The figure offered a take on the traditional doll idea, but meant for boys. He was 12 inches tall, had a cloth outfit, and was a pretty straight forward military man, offered in a variation for each of the four branches of the US military. After the end of the Vietnam War, soldiers and war were seen in a more negative light, so Hasbro had to change things up. This led to the Adventure Team era, which prevailed for most of the 70s. At the end of the decade, they faced another issue. Thanks to Kenner’s smaller scale Star Wars line, the industry was moving to smaller, less accessorized figures. Hasbro had to move quickly to reinvigorate GI Joe for a new audience, leading to the creation of GI Joe: A Real American Hero, which reworked the scale and made the line a collection of unique characters. It also provided the Joes with their first real foe, Cobra. It has remained the definitive take on the GI Joe concept pretty much since its inception. While the line never went away, after the 80s the line dwindled, until it was once again re-worked in 2002. That’s when I came on board. The line operated mostly on new sculpts, but there were a few re-releases mixed in. Today, I’ll be looking at one such release, with Joe mainstays Snake Eyes and Scarlett.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This pair was released as an exclusive two-pack through Toyfare magazine. They were meant to tie-in with the then current GI Joe VS Cobra.

SNAKE EYES

This is the 15th version of the ever silent ninja/commando/everything but the kitchen sink, Snake Eyes! Snake Eyes is 3 ¾ inches in height and he features 14 points of articulation. He’s meant to be a slightly more high quality recreation of the very first Snake Eyes figure, so he unsurprisingly used a lot of the same pieces. He’s mostly built out of the version 1.5, after Hasbro added the now standard swivels to his biceps, but instead of the original, he’s been given that of the second version of Roadblock. Not sure why that is, but I assume Hasbro had a good reason. Anyway, it’s a pretty great sculpt, even if it does show its age just a little. Obviously, it’s a tad more simplistic than most modern day sculpts, but that’s not too bad. He still has his fair share of detail, and he looks pretty great! The paint is a key point on this figure, as the original Snake Eyes didn’t actually have any. For this one, they’ve added some additional details to the various pouches and straps on the body to give him a little more variety. There is also a shade of very dark gray applied to the visor on his head, which was so subtle I almost didn’t notice it at first. Overall, the paint is pretty good, but there are a few areas where he has some bleed over. Snake Eyes included a submachine gun, a sword, some explosives, and a back pack, which a pretty impressive accessories compliment!

AGENT SCARLETT

This is the 6th version of Scarlett, or Agent Scarlett as she’s called here. She’s 3 ¾ inches in height and she has 14 points of articulation. Like Snake Eyes, she’s meant as a recreation of the original Scarlett figure from way back in the very first series of GI Joe: A Real American Hero. The figure is a complete re-use of swivel-armed version of the original figure, which is reasonable. Admittedly, the Scarlett sculpt is not as nice as Snake Eyes. Her arms sit a little bit far out at the shoulders, and the face is rather on the mannish side. It’s not terrible, but it’s not the greatest. The paint on Scarlett is a bit more intensive than that on Snake Eyes. All in all, it’s pretty good. There’s no real slop or bleed over, so that’s good. They’ve also made her a bit more colorful than her original incarnation, which is probably for the best. Scarlett comes armed with a crossbow and two swords, as well as a backpack.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

GI Joe was mostly in a lull when I came into the world of action figure collecting. As such, my first real introduction to the property was GI Joe VS Cobra. Once I had gotten the newer figures, I began looking into the older figures, particularly those of Snake Eyes. Thanks to an article run in Toyfare magazine, I learned of the second version of the character, which I really wanted. It didn’t prove easy to find, so I had to go without it until recently.

In the meantime, I purchased this set from Toyfare to hold me over. I remember being extremely excited when I first saw the order form in the issue in which they were offered! My always supportive Mom was feeling particularly awesome, so she ordered the set for me. Since then, it’s easily remained one of my favorite pieces of my GI Joe collection. It’s a great set and I really love it!

This review was very near the end of my first year on the site, though going by my records, I wrote it about a month in advance.  I certainly did go pretty in-depth on the background of the line, which is interesting, given that it was far from the first of my small-scale Joe reviews.  Earlier reviews were a bit more brief on the intros, so I guess I was probably trying to make up for that.  I recall rediscovering this set over the summer that year, after getting a few figures from the vintage line and doing a bit of digging in my personal collection.

In terms of the review itself, I think I did alright.  I didn’t quite know all the ins and outs of the vintage ARAH molds back in 2014, so I didn’t know the reasons for the Roadblock pelvis on Snake Eyes, which is just that the original pelvis mold was one of the many vintage molds lost when Hasbro returned to the scale in 1997, necessitating a lot of Frankensteining to get the old molds back up and running.  At the time of my original review, the figures were missing most of their accessories, but I’ve done a lot of digging, and managed to find the missing parts, which for these two is quite a lot of parts.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0091: Batgirl & Bane

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

BATGIRL & BANE

DC MINIMATES (DC DIRECT)

Well, it’s Friday again.  So, you know, there’s that.  Here it is.  We made it?  Yeah, let’s go with that.  Let’s try to liven stuff up a bit here, with a Flashback Friday Figure Addendum!  Today, we’re flashing back to some Minimates, but not just any Minimates, DC Minimates!  Let’s take a second look at Batgirl & Bane!

One of the great tragedies for many Minimates collectors was the cancellation of DC Direct’s DC Minimates after only eight series. Not only did the line present us with definitive versions of many of DC’s top characters, it also gave us some wacky side characters like Ambush Bug and Ma Hunkel, and it was the first Minimate line to push the envelope in terms of sculpting. However, the line was met with its fair share of difficulties, most notably hitting shelves when Minimates were at a low point and being gone just before they hit it big. Still, we got a decent 64 figure run, and that’s certainly better than nothing. Today I’ll be looking at two figures from the Batman side of things, Batgirl and Bane.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Batgirl and Bane were released as part of the fourth series of DC Minimates. They’re an odd pair, seing as the two have never actually met. Heck, they didn’t even exist at the same time! Anyway, they’re both Batman characters, I guess.

BATGIRL

Batgirl is built on the basic Minimate body, so she stands about 2 ½ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation. She’s based on the Barbra Gordon version of the character, in her second costume. She features a sculpted mask, cape, belt and gloves. The cape and gloves were previously used on both the series one and series three Batmen, as well as being used before that in the DC C3 line. The mask and belt are new, so as to properly depict her exposed hair and more elaborate belt design. The paint work is pretty clean on Batgirl, with no real slop, and some very sharp line work on all the transitions. This set was released during the period of time when Minimates were using full slip over masks for everyone, even characters that only had half masks, so Batgirl got a full face mask. Some figures took advantage of this and gave the figure a different facial expression on the unmasked head. Sadly, Batgirl didn’t do this, which is a shame, as it would have the unmasked face be Barbra in full librarian mode. Batgirl includes a pair of bat-cuffs and a spare hair piece to display her unmasked.

BANE

Bane demonstrates one of the unique traits of the DC Minimates line: use of the larger Minimate body. The body features the same articulation and relative proportions, but is about a half an inch taller than the basic body. So, DC used it for larger characters such as Bane here. Bane features three sculpted parts: mask, belt, and wrist gauntlet with tube that plugs into the mask. All of these pieces are new to Bane, mostly due to his use of the larger body. All of the pieces accurately capture Bane’s look from the comics, so kudos to them on that. The paint work is pretty good overall, though there a few issues. The shirt features black detailing with gray highlights, but on the edges of the torso, the gray highlights have been missed, leaving their spots flesh-toned. Also, the sides of the shirt don’t quite line up with the front. Finally, the mask, while well detailed, seems to sit a bit too low, which gives him an abnormally large head. Under the mask, there’s a fully detailed face with hair, which Is a nice touch I suppose, though I hardly see anyone displaying him this way.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As with the rest of the DC Minimates line, I purchased these two as soon as they were released. While I think they’re both well done figures, I remember being disappointed in general by the lineup for Series Four, as well as baffled by the choice to pack these two together. It’s a cool set, but it’s hard to tell what audience they were aiming for, as the two figures present appeal to two different sensibilities.

This review was from my first year, at about the 3/4 mark for the year, and boy was that first year a heavy one for Minimates.  This was my 58th Minimate review, meaning almost a quarter of my reviews at the time were Minimates.  I mean, it makes sense, but it’s crazy to think about it these days, when they’re such a rarity.

I think the actual review holds up well for the most part, but I did make an error.  Batgirl did *not* include the bat cuffs, just the alternate hairpiece.  I didn’t have a photo of that, or of Bane’s alternate unmasked look, in the original review, so I’ve included those, as well as some turnarounds, because why not?

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0090: Gambit & Psylocke

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

GAMBIT & PSYLOCKE

MARVEL MINIMATES (DIAMOND SELECT TOYS)

And here we are, with another Friday!  Alright.  Friday.  End of the week and all that.  So, let’s go for that flashing back thing, and jump back into the world of Minimates with a return look at Gambit and Psylocke!

When in doubt, I always turn to Minimates. I find the reviews to generally be a bit easier to write and I can be a little more enthusiastic about them, so they make for better writing in general (at least I sure hope so…). Today marks another Marvel Minimates review. This time around, I’m pulling from the great big world of X-Men with loveable rogue (who is coincidentally loved by Rogue) Gambit, and psychic fighter Psylocke!

THE FIGURES THMSELVES

Psylocke and Gambit were released in series 28 of Marvel Minimates. Originally, this was meant to be series 26 and it would have served as a loose tie-in to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but it was pushed back to 28 when Diamond picked up the license to do Minimates directly from the movie.

PSYLOCKE

Psylocke is built on the basic Minimate body, which, means she stands about 2 ½ inches tall and she has 14 points of articulation. She’s based on Psylocke’s Jim Lee designed look from the early 90s, right around the time that she became Japanese (just go with it). She features two sculpted add-ons: a hair piece and a sash. The hair was originally sculpted for one of the BSG Starbucks, but it was actually released on Psylocke first. The sash may be a re-use, but I don’t know for sure. The paint work is pretty good overall, no slop or bleed over to speak of. One issue is the face seems a bit too narrow, like the paint mask wasn’t applied properly. Psylocke includes a katana, previously seen with Blade, and a “psy knife” which slips over her hand peg.

GAMBIT

Like Psylocke, Gambit is also built on the basic Minimate body. He’s based on Gambit’s default look through much of the 80s and 90s, which is the look most people associate with the character. The figure features a brand new trench coat piece, an all-new hair/headband piece, and a set of new boots. Lots of new stuff.  I do kind of wish that the bib wasn’t a part of the coat, but it looks pretty good. I do love how well they captured Gambit’s mop of unruly hair. The paint work is passable. There’s a bit of slop on the hands, and his face seems a tad too high on the head, but the torso detailing and the pink squares on the legs look great. Gambit included two spate hands with different charged cards and his fighting staff.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This is another set of Minimates I picked up from Cosmic Comix when it was first released. I had eagerly been awaiting series 28, especially after taking part in and winning several prizes in a contest to guess this and series 25’s lineups. This isn’t my favorite version of Psylocke, but it’s not too bad, and Gambit is a character I’ve had an attachment to ever since the 90s animated series.

This was an early summer of 2014 review, which I wrote along with a much larger batch of reviews in the spring of 2014, while in Jess’s hometown for a week and some change-long visit.  There were a number of Minimate reviews written during that stretch in particular, for the reasons outlined in the intro.  A lot of Minimates in those early days.  This is a respectable review, I think, at least as far as the actual writing goes.  This review was one that went live with one of my original “index” photos, which were a lot more basic and not so artsy.  Also, they were missing a bunch of the parts, so, hey, here’s all that stuff now!  Pretty neat!

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0089: Plastic Man

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

PLASTIC MAN

JLA (HASBRO)

Well, we’re here at the end of the week.  I mean, I hope we’re all here.  It’s been kind of a rough week for, you know, everyone getting through it.  You know what we need?  Levity!  So, for today’s Flashback Friday Figure Addendum, let’s have a look back at a silly stretchy sort of guy, with Plastic Man!

If there’s one super power that has a tendency to be underestimated, it’s shape-shifting, particularly of the stretching type. Mister Fantastic, arguably the most famous “stretchy” character out there often has that part of his talents down played to focus on his high-level intellect. I’ve always felt that was a shame. I love stretchy characters because I think they have a lot of potential for creativity on the part of the writer/artist. They’re just a whole lot of fun! In fact, one of my favorite characters of all time is the Elongated Man. He’s not the character I’m looking at today, but he almost would have been, had it not been for the fact that Julie Schwartz, one of the guys behind the creation of Elongated Man (and so many other Silver Age DC characters, but that’s more for a later time), didn’t remember that DC owned the name Plastic Man. Granted, EM would have still be the same character, just with Plastic Man’s name, similar to the Hal Jordan Green Lantern and the Barry Allen Flash. I’m getting a bit off topic, aren’t I?

For those of you who don’t know, Plastic Man is Eel O’Brien, a one-time crook who gets doused by a strange chemical and left behind by his gang during a heist. When he awakes, he discovers he has the ability to stretch his body into impossible shapes. He decides to use this power to bring his old partners to justice and creates the identity of Plastic Man. He was big in the 40s, but faded into obscurity until around the 80s, where he saw a bit of a resurgence in popularity, eventually leading to him joining the Justice League of America during Grant Morison’s run on the series in the 90s. But, what of the figure?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Plas was released in the 3rd series of Kenner’s JLA series. JLA was a line of figures exclusive to KB toys in the late 90s. They were made using retooled molds from Kenner’s Total Justice line from a few years previous. Plas’s inclusion in the line makes sense given his place on the titular team at the time. Plas has 5 points of articulation and stands about 7 inches tall with his neck fully extended. The line was in 5 inch scale, so he fits right in. The line used a few common pieces for certain figures, and Plas features the generic male torso, used by a few of the figures. The rest of the figure’s sculpt is unique. It all works together pretty well, though I can’t help but feel that the re-used torso looks a bit too stubby in comparison to the rest of the figure. The head and arms are cast in rubber with wires running through them, allowing you to pose the arms and neck in a variety of ways. The paint is passable. It’s fairly basic, but that fits with the rest of the line. The biggest issue with the paint is that it had some peeling issues on the rubber pieces, particularly the white on his goggles and teeth, which is almost gone on my figure. The hands have also suffered from some noticeable yellowing. Sadly, these are both issues of working with rubbery materials. I don’t know that anything could have been done to prevent them. Plas included a JLA logo stand, in red I believe.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Plas from the KB Toy outlet in the town where my family vacationed. I know I had seen the figure before, and had been interested in getting it, but I never did. My parents bought him and another JLA figure (I believe it was Impulse) for me, which was pretty cool. It’s actually not a bad figure, though it sadly did suffer from a few issues over time. I’d be curious if a Plas who had less playtime might have come out unscathed.

This review was published in the early spring of 2014, less than halfway through my first year working in the site.  It’s particularly wordy for the time, I feel, and also goes off topic a bit there.  Like, I talk for a very long time before getting to anything about Plastic Man.  I even get in an Elongated Man mention, eight whole years before reviewing any of my Elongated Man figures.  No clue why I waited so long, especially given I had two Plastic Man reviews in my first year.  I’m getting side-tracked again, and I’m not even actually reviewing this time!  Since the original review, I’ve found his red JLA-logo stand, and also done some work restoring some of the messed up paint, so he looks a lot closer to his original self.  With the paint fixed up, I do really like how that head sculpt works; it’s one of the nicer ones from this line.  Also, giving me David Byrne vibes?  In some alternate reality, maybe there’s an ‘80s Plastic Man movie starring Byrne in the role.  He’s certainly eccentric enough!

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0088: Night Creeper

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

NIGHT CREEPER

G.I. JOE: SPY TROOPS (HASBRO)

Hey there faithful readers, and welcome to the end of the week.  Oh, yes, it’s ending.  Fantastic.  Since it’s Friday, let’s celebrate it the only way I know how, with a Flashback Friday Figure Addendum!  Today, I’m going in for seconds on a particularly sneaky ninja, with a return look at the Spy Troops Night Creeper!

Today, I’ll be taking a look at an entry in the original Action Figure toyline, G.I. Joe!  Like my last G.I. Joe review, this figure hails from the Real American Hero incarnation of the line.  In the early 2000s, Hasbro attempted to bring this incarnation back after a few years of hiatus.  The reinvented line started as a simple “G.I. Joe vs. Cobra” idea, but quickly moved from gimmick to gimmick to keep things fresh.  One of those gimmicks was called “Spy Troops” and revolved around certain figures featuring special gear that would allow them to blend in with their enemies.  This time around, I’ll be looking at one of the Cobra forces from the line, the Night Creeper.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Night Creeper was released as part of the 2003 wave of Spy Troops figures.  He was paired in a two pack with Kamukura, one of the many G.I. Joe ninjas.  The Night Creepers were one of Cobras many ninja armies, so the pairing makes sense.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and features 20 points of articulation.  The sculpt on the figure is a bit dated now, with an odd kind of “v” shape to the body and long arms, but at the time, it was actually quite good.  Viewed through that lens, it’s pretty good, if not perfect.  There’s lots of cool little details present, which give the figure a lot of character.  The paint on the figure is minimal, with most of the figure being molded in the appropriate shade of blue, but the small amounts of paint present are all nice and clean.  The Night Creeper was actually very well accessorized, with a sword for his basic look, plus a dive mask, re-breather, flippers, and a harpoon gun to allow the Creeper to masquerade as G.I. Joe Wetsuit.  I’ve lost the Wetsuit pieces, but they did the job quite convincingly, and actually made for a slightly better figure than the official Wetsuit release.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I actually bought Night Creeper solely for the Kamukura figure that was packed with him, but I quickly grew to like the Night Creeper a bit more.  The early 2000s G.I. Joe line was far from perfect, and was even downright bad at times, but the Night Creeper was one of the better figures.

The Night Creeper was actually only my second G.I. Joe review here on the site, which is honestly crazy.  Some lines started off on the site with looks at particularly significant figures or at least early additions to my collection, but the Joes kicked it off with a Rise of Cobra figure followed by a random ‘00s off-shoot trooper.  Guess that’s just how it be sometimes.  I was generally rather complimentary towards this figure the first time around, and I’ll stand by that.  Though I have no real attachment to the Night Creeper in general, this figure is quite nice, and I think holds up as one of the better offerings of the era.  When I first reviewed the figure, he was missing all of the parts for his “spy” disguise as Wet Suit, but I’ve since located them.  I think it’s a pretty convincing set-up, and sells the gimmick a lot better than a good portion of this line ever did.