Category Archives: Guest Reviews

Guest Review #0009: Atlas

Posted by Christian Wilson in Guest Reviews and tagged with , ,

ATLAS

PORTAL 2 (NECA)

Atlas1

 

Hey guys!  The following is a Guest Review from my awesome brother Christian Wilson!  Take it away Christian…

Hello again! I’m back again for another action figure review because I’M OFF MY MEDICATION! This is Part Deux in the Deux Part series of action figure reviews about the Dynamic Robotic Duo, Atlas & P-Body! Today, I’ll be reviewing P-Body’s male counterpart, Atlas!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Atlas is the male robot, made by Aperture Laboratories, from the co-op portion of Portal 2 and works alongside P-Body. From our best boys at NECA, Atlas stands at about 7½ inches tall, just shorter than P-Body. Atlas boasts 15 points of articulation and has a blue LED light in his eye. This light, like with P-Body, is REALLY FREAKING BRIGHT! This figure is my favorite because of the design of the character. The ball (or head) moves side to side at 360 degrees and the figure is a lot stockier than P-Body, which make him easier to stand, so a lot less jimmying on this end. The paint job, like with P-Body, is fantastic and really brings the character to life (Ba dum Tshh!). The figure comes with no stand, but comes with his own personalized Portal Gun, with the colors of blue and purple in the game, but just purple here, because Chell’s Portal Gun was already blue-lit. The gun is the same model as Chell and P-Body’s, but has two blue lines along the top, which are a good paint job. Atlas does hold it pretty well, but it’ll take some work. The joints, for mine, took a while to ease up, especially in the wrists. So, I thought that he didn’t have any, until the Chief Executive [I guess I’m the Chief Executive — E] told me that he did. One of the problems I found with P-Body was the lack of good leg movement. Atlas does it better, but at the cost of having any shoulder articulation at all! This lack of articulation does stifle the fun a little for me but he is hindered TOO much by it.

WARNING: Like I said in my last review, these figures like to break A LOT. Luckily mine was from bigbadtoystore.com, and they guarantee not broken figures, which they do deliver (Ba dum tshh) However, I have seen other Atlases (Atlasi?) that have broken legs, so WATCH OUT!

AtlasWilson Atlas2

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I kinda touched on this in my last review, but I didn’t get P-Body and Atlas at the same time. I got P-Body first because she wasn’t broken at Toys R Us. Both Atlases were so I didn’t want to waste my money. I ordered it when I got home, but then we went to the beach and I didn’t get to it until the week after. Still, IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT! Both Atlas and P-Body are fantastic figures and have been LONG in the making. NECA did a good job of making these figures so go and GET ‘EM!

Atlas&P-Body

Guest Review #0008: P-Body

Posted by Christian Wilson in Guest Reviews and tagged with , ,

P-BODY

PORTAL 2 (NECA)

PBodyCH2

Hey guys!  The following is a Guest Review from my awesome brother Christian Wilson!  Take it away Christian…

Hello, everybody! It’s me again! The brother of the big man upstairs (Ethan)! As these (P-Body AND Atlas) are my figures and they are from a game I played (and very much enjoyed), I’ll be reviewing these robotic buddies of friendship for you loyal 17 readers. Now, sit back and “HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS!”

THE FIGURE ITSELF

P-BodyWilsonAs P-Body was the first figure I obtained (I’ll explain later), it’s only fitting that I review this strapping and tall robot buddy first!

P-Body and Atlas (who will be tomorrow’s review) are the co-op playable characters from the video game Portal 2 by Valve. She is the robot best-friend of his robot counterpart, Atlas, and her Portal Gun colors are Orange and Red. P-Body stands at about 8 inches tall with 17 points of articulation. The overall sculpt of the figure is all its own since this line is very limited and no two figures really use the same parts (maybe Atlas possibly uses the same parts, but if so, not many).The figure has one LED-Lit eye (that you may switch on and off at will) and it is really FREAKING bright! As she is very detailed as a robot with all the wiring and stuff, her articulation is strange. In the game, P-Body moves around with her legs a TON. So, you’d expect SOME leg articulation, but it is very limited. This lack of articulation in the leg department is also present in the other figure in this line, Chell. The paint, for a figure that only cost $25, is fantastic! It looks extremely aesthetically pleasing and represents his character greatly! The figure has one accessory, her personal Portal Gun! It is LED-Lit also, but only displays one color, Red. It is also well-painted, but a reuse of the Portal Gun belonging to Chell (the first figure in the line). P-Body needs some jimmying to get her to hold it, but she can! P-Body, unlike Chell, does not come with a stand. She can stand on her own, but again, it will take some jimmying.

WARNING! These figures like to break A LOT! Not beyond repair, but in the case of P-Body, mine’s right arm comes loose on a regular basis. This may not be the case of yours(if you choose to buy one after reading this review, already own one, or are from the FUTURE) but it is very much the case with mine. Still, I think this figure is WAY PAST COOL and I was and am excited to purchase and own her!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got these very recently (The day before I wrote this review) at a Toys R Us in Glen Burnie. Both Atlas & P-Body were there, in fact TWO Atlas’s(Atlases? Atlasi?), but both were broken and would both need to be bought just to fix one. So I ordered Atlas immediately. Still wanting something to get, I got P-Body. I STILL AM IN LOVE WITH THIS FIGURE, but it would’ve been nice to have both. As these were delayed again and again, I was swooned away when I finally got at least one. Now we wait for Atlas.

PBodyCH1

Guest Review #0007: Chell

Posted by Christian Wilson in Guest Reviews and tagged with , ,

CHELL

PORTAL 2 (NECA)

Chell

Hey guys!  The following is a Guest Review from my awesome brother Christian Wilson!  Take it away Christian…

Initiating Surprise in Three…..Two……One…. SUPRISE!!! EVERYONE GATHER ROUND! IT’S ME! THE SMALLER VERSION OF THE HEAD HONCHO(Ethan), CHRISTIAN! I, like Tim, LOVE video games. But, my upbringing on action figures, was not one of Video Game based action figures, it was a very similar upbringing to Ethan, as we are brothers. I don’t have as many action figures as Ethan nor am I as good at video games as Tim, I still have years of experience in both to combine them to create a lovely concoction. Still, I do love them video games equally as much as action figures. Moving On! As Portal 2(The game this figure is from) is one of my favorite video games of all time, it’s no surprise I would get the action figures. The first one I got is the one you see above, a girl named Chell.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

ChellWilsonChell is the main protagonist in both Portal and Portal 2. She is the only human test subject left in all of the ruins of Aperture Science. She successfully escapes the Laboratory in Portal, but is brought back into the Lab by another Aperture Science robot. She then again tries to escape in Portal 2, but eventually is let go by the main robotic operator of the facility, GLADoS. Moving onto the figure, Chell stands at 7 inches tall, with 23 points of articulation (EVEN ONE IN HER PONYTAIL!). The paint job is quite fantastic (Although, there are reports of HORRIBLE face paints, but mine looks OK) and shows Chell from Portal 2, not Portal (There was a major redesign in the appearance of Chell between games). Also, her parts seem to be all newly sculpted and they really look well-sculpted. She comes with a Dual Handheld Portal Device, or Portal Gun for short. This Portal Gun has a blue LED Light and fits nicely in her hands. Also she comes with a stand, BECAUSE SHE CAN”T STAND FOR S**T! Since Chell comes equipped with “Long Fall Boots”(These were created by Aperture Science to stop Test Subjects suffering from fall damage and breaking valuable equipment) the design of them cuts off her standing ability almost entirely. So hold onto the stand, because she’ll need it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since the game is first person, Chell was not immediately recognizable. But I knew after the marvel that was Portal 2, I would need to get one of those figures. But, my BIG BRO got me Chell for my birthday and I was very pleased. She is a great figure and is up on my shelf to stay!

Guest Review #0006: Orbital Frame Jehuty

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

ORBITAL FRAME JEHUTY              

SENTINEL RIOBOT

Jehuti7

 

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

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

THE FIGURE ITSELF

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

Jehuti1  Jehuti4 Jehuti3 Jehuti2 Jehuti5

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

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

Jehuti6

Guest Review #0005: Ranger Elite

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

RANGER ELITE (SANGHEILI)

HALO REACH

IMG_0645

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

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

THE FIGURE ITSELF

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

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

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

Guest Review #0004: Quorra

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

QUORRA

TRON: LEGACY (SPIN MASTER)

Qorra2

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

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

THE FIGURE ITSELF

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

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

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

Guest Review #0003: Supergirl & Bizarro

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

The  following is a guest review written by my brother, Christian Wilson.  Enjoy.

SUPERGIRL & BIZARRO

DC MINIMATES

Bizarro&Supergirl

Ahoy! This is life. Sometimes you don’t know where you’re going but you know where you’ve been. And that’s all that love’s about. But love is not about the Bizarro & Supergirl Minimate Tupac from probably the 6rd of 8 series of DC Minimates (Because why wait any longer!?). The rippling abs and pectorals before will be put to action immediately. Get ready for the BOON!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These figures are like midgardians. Weak and tiny! As they both originate from Superman Descent (Yeah, that’s a thing I made up with mah brain powers), they both sport some Supes logos. These characters are like the stuff you’ve seen before only more backwards.

SUPERGIRL

I wouldn’t have put her first, she’s just boring, but cool at the same time! Supergirl sports a lady skirt, and some differently sculpted hair. Along with the cape, much work was clearly put into to this thing(if you will). There’s more than 6 articulation points and this makes Supergirl undesirabley angry for some reason. Just look at that face! If you would like to learn more about this robust lady of the lake, look her up on Wikipedia cuz I ain’t gonna draw her.

BIZARRO

This figure am horrible! That was bizarre speak for this figure’s is awesome! The character is captured well in his classic uniform and not some Smallville CW sh*t like before. This figure uses lots of parts from Superman surprisingly. With the exception of the paint being purplish and the backwards S in his chest, this figure is mostly the same but different in a good way. Like the Dred Scott Decision of 1857! If you would like to learn more better about this backwards guy, do as listed for Supergirl above!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Ethan bought it on a day some years ago. Bro.

Guest Review #0002: Tali

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

TALI’ZORAH VAS NORMANDY

MASS EFFECT 2(DC DIRECT)

Tali(DCD)

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

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

THE FIGURE ITSELF

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

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

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

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

Guest Review #0001: Raiden

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

RAIDEN

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

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

THE FIGURE ITSELF

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

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