Category Archives: Reviews

#3933: Sy Snootles & Joh Yowza

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

SY SNOOTLES & JOH YOWZA

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

First appearing during the Jabba’s Palace sequence of Return of the Jedi, the band that would eventually be known as the Max Rebo Band was a three-piece band, and one that was never named on-screen.  The first names they got were courtesy of Kenner’s original toy releases, where they were collectively named as “Sy Snootles and the Rebo Band,” with the main name hailing from Sy Snootles, the band’s front and center singer from the movie.  The first Special Edition release added new members to the band, and Sy was ultimately given a bit of a downgrade, with Max taking the official front man spot for the group as a whole.  There were three band pairs released by Kenner in their Power of the Force run, and today, I’m looking at original front performer Sy Snootles and one of the new additions, Joh Yowza!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Sy Snootles and Joh Yowza are the first of the three “Max Rebo Band Pairs” released by Kenner in 1998 as part of their Star Wars: Power of the Force II line.  The pairs were all exclusive to Walmart at the time.  This set in particular has the notoriety of being the only totally CGI character-focused one, so there’s that.

SY SNOOTLES

As one of the original members, Sy was portrayed in the original film by use of a puppet.  For the Special Edition, she was re-designed to allow for more expressive and modern (at the time) effects-driven approach.  She’s ultimately a lot more cartoony, which is okay enough, and does at least make this a more drastically different figure from the original.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and she has 5 points of articulation.  Though she gets the basic movement, it’s generally pretty restricted.  A lot of that’s to do with the preposed nature of the figure’s sculpt, since she’s been given a rather sassy pose, which feels pretty in keeping with her characterization.  Despite not being very posable, the sculpt is nevertheless a pretty nice one.  It matches the design from the movie, and there’s also plenty of texture work, especially on the reptilian looking skin.  Sy’s color work also matches well with her film appearances.  It’s admittedly a bit of a departure from the usual Star Wars colors, especially the predominantly brown-based shades of Jabba’s palace.  The application’s pretty cleanly handled, and she even gets a little bit of accenting on her outfit.  Sy is without any accessories, though she was originally shown with a microphone and stand.  Since she doesn’t use them in the movie, though, they were dropped before release.

JOH YOWZA

Joh was added for the Special Edition, and is an entirely CGI creation.  He’s pretty much the epitome of the “annoying CGI creations that jump in front of the screen and make noise.”  So, you know, he’s not particularly well-liked.  It doesn’t help that he doesn’t much *look* like a Star Wars character, but hey, that’s just how it is.  The figure stands about 3 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation that are even more pointless than those on Sy.  He’s really pre-posed, and exactly what that pose is supposed to be is…unclear?  I don’t know.  The sculpt does a good job of capturing Joh’s design, whatever your opinion of said design might be.  It’s got some interesting texture work, and if nothing else, the face is certainly expressive.  Joh’s paint work was pretty involved, with a fair bit of accent work going on.  The fur work in particular works pretty well.  Like Sy, Joh is without any accessories.  There was a third-party instrument made available, for people that didn’t want empty hands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My family didn’t really shop at Walmart in the ‘90s, and without access to the internet as it is, I didn’t really know about these sets until much later.  They’ve been on my want list for a good long while though.  I had the opportunity to grab most of the band members loose via a trade-in to All Time Toys about a year ago, which is how I got both of these.  Of the three sets, this one’s definitely the weakest.  Neither figure is really much in the way of playable, and Joh in particular just isn’t really impressive by any metric.  Still, they’re not terrible in the slightest.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3932: Ultraman Trigger Truth

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

ULTRAMAN TRIGGER TRUTH

SH FIGUARTS (BANDAI)

When I last reviewed an Ultraman figure here on the site, it was in fact an Ultraman completely unrelated to the usual Ultramen I review around here, what with being from Superman and all.  That said, I did have a proper Ultraman related review back in the spring.  Last year, though, I had a heck of a run of Figuarts Ultramen, and that was super fun.  Here’s a little more of that.  Ultraman Trigger: New Generation Tiga was released in 2021, corresponding with the 25th anniversary of Ultraman Tiga, to which it serves as a spiritual and thematic successor.  Much like Tiga, Trigger has a number of different forms he can use for different situations, which adds more possibilities for action figure releases.  Today, I’m looking at Trigger Truth, which is Trigger’s ultimate final form.  Yaaaaay!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultraman Trigger Truth was added to Bandai’s SH Figuarts line in the summer of 2023.  It’s a Tamashii Nations Store-exclusive.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and he has 44 points of articulation.  Trigger’s articulation scheme is really strong, moving further away from the more fiddly nature of earlier Ultras.  I was also quite pleased to see how much range he had on the shoulders, even with all the extra armoring.  Trigger’s designs are meant to emulate Tiga in terms of vibe and style.  His standard look equating to Tiga’s, and Trigger Truth is a bit of a build on that general look, working in elements of some of his earlier forms.  It’s a fun amalgamation of various elements, and it certainly gives the sculpt a lot of more ornamental detailing to work with, an it does it really well.  The detailing is very clean, and captures his design quite nicely.  Like Tiga, Trigger’s main color scheme is a balance of silver, purple, and red, with a bit of gold accenting worked in.  Truth keeps that general set-up, but adds some additional black accenting, showing the elements he’s gained from his “Dark” form that figure into Truth.  It adds a nice pop to the design, which helps the other elements stand out even better.  Trigger Truth was packed with five pairs of hands (in fists, relaxed, two styles of flat, and open gesture), an additional hand with a True Zeperion Beam effect attached, and his True Timer in two different colors.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My last run of Figuarts Ultramen kind of all fell into my lap, but since then it’s been a bit slower, since I don’t have as easy a time finding them, what with them all being imports and all.  But, as luck would have it, my wife was going on a trip to New York with her siblings, and invited me along, giving me the opportunity to swing by the Tamashii Nations Store in NYC, which of course calls for an Ultraman purchase.  This guy was the one that jumped out at me, so he was the one I snagged.  He’s a lot of fun.  I knew pretty much exactly what to expect, but that doesn’t make a new Ultraman any less awesome to get.

#3931: Cyborg

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

CYBORG

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

“Though Vic Stone’s body was destroyed in an accident, science gave him a new one, which he’s used as a both a Teen Titan and a member of the Justice League.”

Kenner’s Super Powers line had a three year run in the ‘80s, during which time they released 33 standard release figures, and 1 mail-away.  By far the rarest of the figures are those that come from the final assortment of the line, with the grail of the original collection being the first figure of the then family recently created Cyborg.  McFarlane’s revival of Kenner’s line clocked 64 new single release figures, and an additional 8 figures offered through multi-packs and the like.  And wrapping up (at least as far as we know) the McFarlane run, much like the original Kenner one, is Cyborg!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyborg is the final figure in Series 11 of McFarlane’s Super Powers line, a “Gold Label” release that was exclusive to McFarlane’s online store.  Of the four figures offered, he’s the only one that’s a direct recreation of a vintage release.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  He’s definitely on the larger side, which in some ways makes you wonder if this was an earlier sculpt that was shelved for a while.  That said, given Cyborg’s robotic nature and the usual depictions of his scale, it’s not really out of place for him to be this size.  This release notably gives Cyborg the standard assortment of articulation, which means he gets the knee joints that his vintage counterpart lacked.  Yay for knees!  Cyborg’s sculpt is a unique one.  Clearly, it’s meant to be patterned on the vintage version, in terms of styling and in pose, but it’s not a direct copy.  It’s generally good.  The technical details on the cybernetic parts are very clean and crisp, and follow his look from the style guide well.  I’m not sure about the head; the human half seems a little bit soft in its detailing.  It’s far from the worst thing, and at least he doesn’t have the “McFarlane face” that the earlier figures did, so I can’t complain too much.  Cyborg’s color work marks the largest departure from his original, a figure defined by it’s super cool chrome finish via vac-metalizing.  This one doesn’t do that, instead just using a flat silver molded plastic.  It’s not a shock, since none of the the figures in the McFarlane line have done the chrome.  It’s a bummer that they didn’t at least go for painted silver, but ultimately, it’s not awful, and looks better than I expected.  Cyborg is without any accessories, meaning he’s also lacking the original’s swappable hand attachments, which is a real bummer, but again not a shock.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since I started collecting the vintage Kenner line, I knew Cyborg would be the Everest of that particular collection.  As I get nearer and nearer to the finish line, that’s only become amplified.  So, there’s just sort of this empty spot on my shelf, where a Cyborg might *eventually* go.  If I *HAD* one….  I’ve long hoped for some sort of Super Powers continuation that might include a Cyborg so that I could at least put *something* in that spot.  For most of McFarlane’s run, I wasn’t really sure I’d be getting it, but I was happy to be wrong.  Like the other three, I jumped on the order for this right away.  He’s not perfect, and I’m kind of kicking myself for not snagging a second set so that I could chrome one of the Cyborgs, but he’s a decent stand-in for the real thing, at least from a far, and I didn’t have to break the bank to get him.

And that is, near as we can tell, a wrap on the McFarlane Super Powers.  It’s been an interesting ride, if nothing else.  At the start of this line, I despised its very existence, feeling like it was a poor formed product that would just serve to ultimately rob me of the product I’d actually wanted for so many years.  But then, slowly, after a difficult path, the line morphed into essentially exactly what I’d wanted.  Sure, more than half the line was repaints and rehashes of stuff that we already had.  I do also find it darkly humorous that the one major complaint I have about the original run, which is that in a set of 34 figures, Wonder Woman was the only female character, is made even more prominent by McFarlane’s run, where in an additional 72 figures, we got….four more Wonder Women.  I’ve got a whole list of figures I wish we’d seen before the end.  But, at the end of the day, I personally got 35 new figures for my Super Powers collection, and I do honestly love them all.

#3930

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

SNOWBIRD & PUCK

ALPHA FLIGHT (TOY BIZ)

“In her human guise, she is simply known as Anne McKenzie. But those that are familiar with her true form know her as Snowbird, mystical protector of the Canadian North! Born of a human father and goddess mother, Snowbird was bestowed with various magical powers, including the ability to transform herself into any animal of the arctic regions, such as the ferocious wolverine! Nowadays Snowbird allies herself with other super powered individuals — like the jovial, cart-wheeling Puck — on Canada’s premier super hero team, Alpha Flight!”

Alpha Flight!  They’re just like other super heroes, but they’re also Canadian!  No, seriously, they’re mostly just other super heroes with Canadian elements tacked on top.  Well, I guess it helps keep them memorable.  There’s been a few rounds of toy coverage over the years for these guys, starting back in the ‘90s, when Toy Biz first debuted the team as an assortment of two-packs.  Thus far, I’ve looked at two of the three sets, and today, I’m wrapping up the set, a mere eight years after starting it, with a look at Snowbird and Puck!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Snowbird and Puck are, as noted above, the third and final two-pack from Toy Biz’s 1998 Alpha Flight line, wrapping up the team’s core line-up.

SNOWBIRD

In reading my old Alpha Flight reviews in prep for this one, I’ve discovered that I’ve mentioned that Snowbird is a Byrne creation the predates his comics work both times I’ve discussed the character.  So, guess I won’t fall into that trap again…apart from right here when I did it in a meta sense.  The real trouble with talking about Snowbird is that, while she may be the living embodiment of the spirit of Canada, she unfortunately doesn’t actually get much personality beyond that, so she’s just…there.  Her figure stands about 5 inches tall and she has 11 points of articulation.  The neck is effectively useless, but the shoulders are actually pretty nice, and giving her ankle joints allows her to be s touch more stable than some other figures of the era.  Her sculpt makes her very, very skinny, which isn’t much of a departure from how Byrne depicted her, I suppose.  The head seems to get the character down alright, and the costume details are etched in, rather than just simply relying on paint.  She also gets a cloth cape piece, which is simple, but hangs well and gets the job done.  Her color work is generally basic, but it’s clean, and it gets the colors down appropriately, helping sell her rather striking look.  Snowbird is packed with two additional versions of herself, one in bird form, the other in, like, maybe badger form?  Is it a wolverine?  Would that be redundant?

PUCK

The objective best member of Alpha Flight (you can’t fight me on this, I have facts on my side, and those facts are that I like him more than the others), Puck wasn’t added to the team until after they got their own book, presumably to make up for Wolverine having vacated his “short guy” position on the team.  While later releases would make more proper figures, this release turns Puck into effectively a glorified accessory to Snowbird.  He’s a little over 2 inches tall and he only has movement at the midsection.  It’s not really articulation, since it’s a spring-loaded joint so that you can make him do flips.  It’s…odd.  He’s way too small for proper scaling; Puck’s a small guy, but, like, actual, real-life little person small, not fully shrunken-down smaller scale person small.  At the very least, his head should be bigger than it is.  As it stands, he’s really just sort of a figurine, with quite a bit of preposing, which I guess isn’t the worst.  The sculpt doesn’t look *unlike* Puck, which is at least on the right track.  His color work does feel especially muted and dark, making him feel very murky and easily lost in the crowd when the whole team is together.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Northstar and Aurora as a kid, and I got Vindicator and Sasquatch in 2017.  I sort of forgot I did’t have this one, to the point that when a sealed set came into All Time as part of a much larger Toy Biz collection in 2023, I *almost* passed on them.  Thankfully, I came to my senses.  This set’s not as strong as the other two, because it’s really not a two-pack.  Because of the way they handled Puck, it’s really just Snowbird and a bunch of accessories.  She’s fine, I guess, but she’s Snowbird, so not the most thrilling.  Puck is really just a placeholder, and his later figures have thankfully been much better.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this set for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3929: Death Star Droid with Mouse Droid

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

DEATH STAR DROID with MOUSE DROID

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“A Death Star Droid approaches what appears to be a routine prisoner relocation. The two stormtroopers are actually Han Solo and Luke Skywalker conspiring to rescue the imprisoned Princess Leia.”

In the original Kenner Star Wars line, amongst the many droids offered was the Death Star Droid…or a figure labeled the Death Star Droid. In actuality, it was one of the droids seen in the Jawas’ sandcrawler, right down to the screen shot used on the box and everything.  In Kenner’s defense, both the droid from the sand crawler and the Death Star are RA-7 models (which is a translation for they used the same costume).  They would also fix their mix-up two decades later, under the late-run of Power of the Force II. 

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Death Star Droid was released in the Fan Club assortment of Star Wars: Power of the Force II in 1998.  He’s the last non-R2 and 3PO droid released in the line.  The figure stands just under 3 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  He was an all-new sculpt, which wound up re-used a few times down the line for various other RA-4 figures.  It’s similar in its styling to the C-3PO molds from the line, which makes a fair bit of sense.  It’s a solid sculpt, with pretty clean line-work, and it’s pretty accurate to the design seen in the movie.  The coloring on this guy is notable, largely because it’s, you know, actually accurate to the movie.  It’s actually really fun, because the whole thing is vac-metalized, and it’s got multiple shades, so he looks especially eye-catching and slick.  The Death Star Droid is packed with another droid entirely, the Mouse Droid.  It’s a really simple, single piece thing just molded in simple black plastic.  It’s also way over scaled for the line.  But, it’s also really neat, and who doesn’t love a Mouse Droid?  Somebody probably, but I can’t trust their opinions; they don’t even like the Mouse Droid.  Also included is a Freeze Frame, showing the Death Star Droid as it wanders past a disguised Luke and Han.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, I recall having the actual, vintage, incorrect Death Star Droid.  I did not, however, have this one, because the whole, you know, not released at retail bit.  Of the four Fan Club figures, he’s the one that was always the most intriguing to me, so I was pretty happy to find him sitting on a dealer’s table at Ocean City Comic-Con last year, and for a good price at that.  Of course, then I waited like 10 months to open him, because I don’t allow myself to enjoy nice things.  He’s good.  Really fun, really slick, and pretty unique.

#3928: Captain America vs Venom

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA VS VENOM

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

In the ‘90s, Capcom’s arcade fighting games were a pretty notable thing, and also Marvel Comics was a pretty notable thing.  So, Marvel and Capcom opted to do that whole “two great tastes that taste great together” thing, and teamed up for some crossover action.  First starting more focused with X-Men vs Street Fighter, they eventually added the larger rosters of both Marvel and Capcom to the mix, and even got some toys along the way.  There’s remasters and all sorts of nostalgia going on right now, which always leads to an interest in some merchandising.  Jada has been running a really strong showing with a number of the Capcom properties, and, in a bit of an informal crossover, Hasbro’s doing their own line of just the Marvel half of the games.  Would you believe I bought the Captain America?

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Captain America vs Venom is a two-pack release from Hasbro’s Marvel Legends.  They’re part of the first big push of the “VS” set under the “Gamerverse” banner.  Though the packaging uses sprites and design elements from Marvel vs Capcom, there’s no actual mention of the game on the package, again keeping the informal crossover bit going.

CAPTAIN AMERICA

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag you’re buying the same thing over and over again?  I mean, I frequently am doing *exactly* that, but, like in a more metaphorical sense?  That’s where I’m at with this Captain America.  He’s the next progression of the journey to a classic Cap that we started back in 2016, with the Cap Wolf Cap, who debuted Cap on the “new” Reaper mold.  Wow, I said “Cap” a lot of times in that sentence.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Remember my “Ship of Theseus” comment in the Secret Wars Cap review?  Well, this guy just sort of furthers that.  All that remains of the original Reaper body use at this point is, in fact, his belt piece.  He gets the lower torso first used for the 80th Cap, and the standard calm masked head included with the 20th Anniversary Cap.   His lower arms, pelvis, and legs to the top of the shin are all the modified pieces used on the Secret Wars Cap last year.  That leaves a new upper torso, upper arms, and boots for this specific release.  Cap’s game design notably omitted the usual scale-mail that his upper torso spots, so this figure does that as well,  but it still grants him a lot of sculpted elements, rather than simply painting them all on, like the Cap Wolf figure did.  Most notably, the new upper torso gives Cap butterfly joints on his shoulders, something he hasn’t had since the Toy Biz days.  They’re quite handy when it comes to fighting poses, which is ideal for a figure that’s specifically for a fighting game.  Cap also gets a new alternate head, with another expression.  This one takes the teeth-gritting expression of the Secret Wars release and dials it up to 11, for a full on scream.  It’s not your typical Cap expression, but it feels exceptionally true to the sprite models from the game.  Cap’s color work is perfectly fine, if not above average in terms of paint work application and quality.  But, once again, we’ve gotten *another* shade of blue, meaning that you can’t swap the heads on this guy with either the 20th or Secret Wars figures, which continues to feel like a missed opportunity.  Presumably, Hasbro’s waiting to unveil a Maximum Cap that has all the heads and retools this torso into one with the scale mail.  Cap is packed with two pair of hands (fists and thumbs up), his shield, and a bash effect piece for the shield.  The thumbs up hands are really cool, and offer a lot of fun posing options.  I wasn’t thrilled about the move back to the smaller shield, but I think it does work a bit better for the game look.  It’s amusing that this shield is smaller than the one included with the original TB MvC Cap figure, though.

VENOM

Venom.  Yay.  Venom.  I totally bought this set for both figures, and not just the one.  Of course.  I totally know all of the facts about the different Venoms, too.  Like, this one’s…blue?  Cuz of the sprite.  That’s why.  The figure stands 7 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Like Cap, the classic Eddie Brock Venom’s gone through a lot of different mold variations.  This appears to be the same mold used for the Amazon three-pack Eddie that came with Riot and Agony, which itself was based on the Omega Red molds.  It means he’s still got visible pins on the knees, but otherwise modern articulation.  It’s not a bad sculpt by any means.  It feels very true to the character, and the heads both feel very much in line with his game design.  I especially like the partially unmasked head, because it reminds me of the old Spider-Man Classics figure.  In terms of coloring, he is, as noted above, blue.  It’s honestly a pretty good way of getting him to stand out from the others.  Generally, the paint’s pretty basic.  I do really love the green saliva on the tongue, though.  Venom is packed with the alternate unmasked head, and two pairs of hands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m cursed to keep buying every Captain America from Hasbro as they continue to make them incrementally better every time.  I’ve just accepted that.  This time, they also made me buy a Venom.  Wasn’t thrilled about that, but I really wanted the Cap, so I did it.  I’m glad I did, because I do really, really like this Cap.  The changes feel worth it, and he feels more like a new figure and not just a retread of the ones from before.  I think Secret Wars may still be more of a definitive Cap for me, but this one’s exceptionally fun, and I especially love all the fun stuff you can do with that screaming head.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased these figures for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3927: Animal Man

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

ANIMAL MAN

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

“Able to connect with The Red, the morphogenic field that connects all animal life, Buddy Baker juggles his duties as a husband and father, and the superhero who can mimic the abilities of any animal, Animal Man!”

Much like Hank Pym’s introduction in 1962’s “Man in the Anthill,” a sci-fi story that proved successful enough for its lead character to return later that same year, now as the costumed hero Ant-Man, Buddy Baker’s first turn in Strange Adventures’ “I Was the Man with Animal Powers,” a sci-fi story where a man is encounters an alien spacecraft, giving him his titular abilities, was followed up with Buddy’s return ten issues later as a costumed hero, first “A-Man”, later Animal Man.  Though he remained obscure for most of his original run, post-Crisis, the character was given his own title under the helm of Grant Morrison, who re-vamped him to fit better into the post-Crisis world, expanding on his life outside of being a super hero, playing up the aspects of his role as a family man, as well as his crusades for animal rights.  The series also had a substantial metatextual element, as it examined directly the changes being made to the character’s backstory, as well as the toll that “shock” storytelling elements were having on him, culminating in a direct confrontation between Buddy and “The Writer,” who was directly modeled on Morrison.  Morrison’s run ended with Buddy’s life being restored to a more status quo place, allowing him to be better worked into the main DCU, but the influence of the run has still informed a lot of the character’s later appearances, and also serves as a nice little focus for an otherwise still somewhat obscure character.  His presence as a fan-favorite has made him fortunate enough to get several figures over the years, the latest as part of McFarlane’s Super Powers revival.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Animal Man is part of what is, near as anyone can tell, the final assortment of McFarlane’s Super Powers.  He and the other three figures are all exclusive Gold Label releases, available only through McFarlane’s online store.  Buddy’s an interesting choice for the line-up; he existed when the vintage line was in swing, of course, but wouldn’t be revived truly until 1988.  He’s also always remained somewhat on the fringe, and none of the characters he tends to be paired off with were part of either version of the line.  But, at the same time, Kenner was prone to throwing in the occasional odd-ball, so who can say for sure.  The figure stands just shy of 5 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  For whatever reason, Buddy is back on one of the older base bodies, specifically the one used for John Stewart, so he’s bulkier and a little larger than the others in the assortment, and not quite the right scale.  Honestly, I’d have expected him to just be another use of the Flash-style body, but perhaps they felt that was getting over played?  The GL sculpt is too bulky, and sort of puffy, and not one of my favorites, but…I don’t hate it here?  Maybe I’m getting nostalgic as we get closer to the end.  It does still feel a touch too large for Buddy, and I get a chuckle out of the fact that he’s still got the ring on his right hand.  But, the new head sculpt is quite nice, and, goofy though it may be, the cloth jacket piece is pretty fun.  Animal Man’s color work is pretty solid.  I love the crisp work on the “A”, as well as the full detailing under the jacket, if you’re more interested in a classic Buddy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve always dug Animal Man, as sort of a quirky side character.  That said, it was far too long before I actually sat down and read the Morrison run (I picked up the trades from Cosmic Comix, rather appropriately I suppose, shortly after Jess died, and read through them during a period of having far too much time on my hands), and when I did, it elevated Buddy from a character I already very thoroughly enjoyed to a character that is genuinely one of my favorites.  While I can think of lots of other characters I might have liked to see crop up in this final line-up, I am nevertheless very happy to see Buddy join the line, and I like how the final figure turned out.

#3926: Cloak & Dagger

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

CLOAK & DAGGER

CLOAK & DAGGER (TOY BIZ)

“Teenagers possessing the powers of light and darkness, Tyrone Johnson and Tandy Bowen are Cloak and Dagger! Drawing opponents into himself, Cloak later releases them weakened and unable to fight and longer. His costume conceals his shadowy power, a place of darkness that feeds on its victims. Wielding her power in the form of blades of pure light, Dagger is able to drain her enemies of their vitality; she can also use her power to alleviate Cloak’s hunger for light. Brought together by destiny, Cloak and Dagger remain a duo committed to ridding the streets of the criminals who would destroy it.”

Cloak and Dagger were created in 1982 as a pair of antagonists (but not villains) for Spider-Man, a fact that I used to open my only other Cloak and Dagger review, all the way back in 2018.  What does that mean?  Largely that my connection to the characters in tangental at best.  I’ve probably read a couple of comics where they appeared, but I don’t know that I’ve ever really read any focus stories, and certainly not any of their stand alone stuff.  They have a clever name, though, and a neat visual dynamic, so, that’s cool for toys, right?

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Cloak and Dagger were released in 1997 as their own stand-alone boxed two-pack under Toy Biz’s larger 5-Inch Marvel banner.  In terms of styling and era of release, they’re a lot like the Famous Couples sets, but they were general release and without marked edition sizes. This was the first figure treatment for both characters, and they would remain the only ones for almost a decade, until Diamond Select released both Select and Minimates versions.  The set included the two figures, as well as a small tin with an illustration on the front.  Maybe you can keep all the weird junk from the other two-packs in it?

CLOAK

Cloak starts us off with a relatively by the numbers re-use based figure.  He stands 5 inches tall and has 11 points of articulation.  Cloak is primarily using the Octo-Spidey base body that Toy Biz was so fond of using.  It’s perfectly fine here, since it’s mostly just an excuse to hold up his cloak.  The head is a re-use of Deadpool II’s unmasked head, which, if nothing else, has the virtue of being a less frequently used part.  In the earlier days, Cloak’s face tended to have a lot of line work, so the texturing of the sculpt works okay to replicate that.  It’s not perfect, but it’s not bad.  The color work does a bit of the lifting on differentiating him from the earlier uses of the parts.  He makes a lot of use of accenting and washes, which works very nicely.  Adorning all of the reused sculpted parts, is a soft goods cloak piece.  It’s thick, and rough in texture, and mostly just hangs there.  The print with the stripes works, though, and it’s got a good presence.

DAGGER

Lest there be any fear of things getting too crazy here, Dagger keeps Cloak’s re-use basis going, also being rather by the numbers.  She’s just shy of 5 inches tall and she has 9 points of articulation.  Her movement is very limited, due to a combination of the hard plastic hair restricting her neck, and the use of v-hips.  Generally, she’s just for standing.  She does at least get universal shoulders.  She’s constructed entirely out of parts from the “Ninja” series of X-Men, with the head of Psylocke, and the body of Deathbird (albeit with the torso and arms modified to remove the connection points for the wings).  The head’s actually a pretty solid match for Dagger’s usual depictions, and the color shift helps to differentiate in well from the original usage.  The body’s okay, but the sculpted belt-line goes through a spot on her waist that’s supposed to be skin, which does look a little bit odd.  Her coloring is pretty nice; the white sections of her outfit are pearlescent, and I’m always a sucker for that.  Beyond that, it’s fairly basic paint work, which does what it needs to and sells the look generally well.  The only slightly off bit is the amulet on the front of her chest, which looks very fake, but that’s about it.  Dagger gets four “dagger” pieces, which are actually just Marrow’s bone pieces, but cast in clear plastic.  Honestly, apart from being far too large, they work better than expected.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set proved my first introduction to the characters.  Of course, I didn’t know who they were, so I didn’t buy one new, and they weren’t my first *figures* of the two (those would be the Minimates), but it does still sort of cement them as the standard look of the characters in my head.  I finally got a chance to snag the set a few years ago, in a larger collection, with most of the other multipacks. As noted within the review proper, they’re both very by the numbers figures, entirely reliant on re-used parts.  But, it ultimately works okay for them, and I think this winds up as a pretty neat little set.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3925: Princess Leia Organa in Hoth Gear

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

PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA in HOTH GEAR

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“Imperial snowtroopers have been spotted inside Hoth’s Rebel base. Little time remains for Princess Leia and Han Solo to make it to the Millennium Falcon and escape with their lives.”

Kenner’s Power of the Force II hit its high-points for production in 1997 and 1998, as demand steadily rose through the line’s run.  However, as they started jumping deeper into the weird cuts of characters, and production was not scaled back, things started to become stagnant.  The line was subsequently reined in, and refocused, as they prepared for the incoming push for Episode I.  With a great many of the “Freeze Frame” era figures still lingering at retail, the final four figures for the sub-set were released not at main retail, but rather through a Fan Club-exclusive assortment in 1998.  Of the characters featured, by far the most noteworthy was Princess Leia in her Hoth attire.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Princess Leia Organa in Hoth Gear was released as part of the aforementioned Fan Club assortment of Star Wars: Power of the Force II in 1998.  She in particular had an interesting journey to release, first intended for release in the “Complete Galaxy” sub-line, which was cancelled, then intended to go with a Hoth 3D display, which was also canceled, before being moved to single release for an assortment that was also almost cancelled.  At least she made it out.  The figure stands about 3 1/2 inches tall and she has 6 points of articulation.  Her sculpt was unique, and not shared with the Cinema Scenes release of the same design, though admittedly, they’re pretty close in terms of styling.  This one gets a stiffer, more generic standing pose, instead of the more scene-specific one from the multi-pack.  Neither is really better than the other, they’re just different enough to be different.  Sculpting is pretty sharp, and the detailing on the outfit is particularly impressive.  Her color work is also a bit different than the other version, but not better or worse.  The hair’s a little darker, and the face is a little sharper.  The weathering on the outfit is also a cooler shade, and more focussed on her legs.  It still seems a little heavy handed, but it’s not awful.  Leia is packed with a blaster, which is a re-use of the Han-style one that they loved so much.  It’s fine.  It’s not remotely accurate, but it’s fine.  She also gets a freeze frame showing a scene from the Hoth evacuation.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had none of the Fan Club figures as a kid because I honestly didn’t know that was a thing the Fan Club did.  Kinda wish I could have gotten in on such a thing.  Seems right up my alley.  Instead, I’ve been slowly tracking them down.  They’re not expensive, mind you, just a lot less likely to show up than the others in the line.  Leia here was found mixed in with a batch of otherwise not noteworthy figures from the earlier run.  She’s perfectly fine.  It’s crazy how many steps there were to getting her release, but she’s a decent figure of one of the character’s main looks.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3924: Digivolving Patamon to Angemon

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

DIGIVOLVING PATAMON TO ANGEMON

DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS (BANDAI)

It is on one hand a bit surprising to me, and on the other hand not really, that I have made zero mention of Digimon here on the site during its 12 years I’ve been running it.  As a child of the ‘90s and early ‘00s, I was very much in the target demographic of the show when it was brought to the US in 1999.  I religiously watched the first two seasons as they aired, and owned Digimon: The Movie on VHS.  I even downloaded most of the movie’s soundtrack on Napster (I’m past the statute of limitations on that, right?  Also, I was a child…), and, of course, I had a handful of toys.  Not a ton, but a notable amount.  It did ultimately amount to mostly just a fad for me, though, and I didn’t hang onto much of anything from it (still do have that VHS, though), so I can’t really say I’m one of those truly enduring fans of the franchise.  But, I’ve returned back to parts of it over the years, especially as it pertains to my favorite Digimon, Angemon, who’s (part of) the focus of today’s review!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Digivolving Patamon to Angemon (a name that my spellcheck *really* hates) was one of the four initial “Digivolving” figures from Bandai’s Digimon: Digital Monsters tie-in line, released domestically in 2000, during the back-end of the show’s first season run.  The figure was packaged and sold as Patamon, with the Angemon transformation being more of an advertised feature.  That being said, for me, he’s always been Angemon first and foremost, so I’ll be reviewing him as such.  In Angemon form, the figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and he has 18 functioning points of articulation (you could also count the joints on his wings, but they don’t actually move much once he’s fully transformed).  The articulation of the core figure is honestly one of the better selling points of this release, since the standard Angemon from the main assortment was a lot more restricted.  This one’s still not *super* posable, since the joints are in a lot of ways limited in exactly what they can do, but he’s at the very least got double joints on his elbows and knees, and there’s a hinge/swivel combo in the ankles.  The sculpt is very stylized, and the articulation is a bit rudimentary in how it’s worked into everything, but he generally does look the part of Angemon as he was seen in the show…on the core body, at least.  The sculpting is pretty sharp, and there’s a nice variety of textures on display throughout.  The accuracy sort of takes a bit of a dive when you get to the wings, which look passable but not great from the front, and look not at all correct from literally any other angle.  This is, of course, all for the sake of facilitating the transformation into Patamon.  The bulk of Patamon’s design is on the exterior of Angemon’s wings.  You fold him up into a fetal position and fold the wings around him and, boom, incredibly oversized Patamon.  25 years after its release, the plastic is a touch stiff, so the transformation is a bit tricky, but hardly impossible.  Patamon is a lot more on model, with all of the Angemon stuff successfully packed away from view.  The paint work for both forms is pretty nicely handled.  Angemon gets all the base color work he’s supposed to, and Patamon gets a completely painted surface.  Angemon being largely white plastic makes him a little prone to yellowing, and Patamon being flat paint makes him a little prone to scuffing, but overall, they still look good.  The figure includes Angemon’s staff, which can be folded in the middle and stored while he’s in Patamon mode.  It’s got a rather obvious hinge in the middle to facilitate this, but it’s on par with the rest of the figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When Digimon hit, I was pretty immediately a Patamon fan (largely because he happened to look the most like Pikachu; I was falling for that “let’s steal the Pokemon market” push that Saban was trying for), and I was then really excited when his next form was Angemon, who’s undoubtedly the coolest Digimon.  I wanted figures of both of them, and recall wanting their two separate figures initially, until this one came along and gave me the option of having them both in one.  I recall getting this one on a Toys “R” Us trip on the way home from a weekend with my Aunt Robin.  He got a lot of play, and over the years, I lost pretty much every single part of him.  A few years ago, I found most of his core body, but nothing else, and figured the rest of him was gone.  The last few months, I’ve been doing a deep dive into some of the many boxes of junk from my old room that were still at my parent’s house, largely trying to weed out what’s actually worth doing something with, but also seeing if I can find anything cool I want to keep.  In the process, I incrementally found each of his parts, one by one, being more and more surprised each time.  At the end of it all, I had a whole complete figure, which is nuts, but also makes me very happy, because he’s the one Digimon figure I truly still wanted to own.