Category Archives: Reviews

#2578: Red Hulk

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

RED HULK

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“General Thunderbolt Ross transforms into the Hulk, a creature he swore to destroy.”

From the second appearance of the character, the Hulk’s been no stranger to changes in color.  Originally shifting from grey to green, and then back to grey, and then green again, there’s certainly been some back and forth.  In 2008, Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness through another color into the mix, shifting the Green Goliath into the Crimson Goliath.  Of course, this new Red Hulk wasn’t just a recolor of Bruce Banner, but was instead someone else, whose identity remained a mystery for over a year…and then it turned out to be Thunderbolt Ross, in one of the most convoluted, fake-out-filled reveals in comics history.  Nowadays, of course, the reveal’s common knowledge, and gets used for toy packaging bios like that one above.  But hey, toy bios mean there’s a toy to go with them, right?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Red Hulk is a Target-exclusive deluxe Marvel Legends offering.  This marks Red Hulk’s second time in Legends form.  The first time was as a Build-A-Figure way back in 2008, and he was actually a Target-exclusive that time as well.  They sure do like those red exclusives, don’t they?  The figure stands 8 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Red Hulk is our fourth use of the 80 Years of Marvel Hulk body, which is, again, not much of a surprise.  It’s a good sculpt, and it’s no surprise that Hasbro wants to get more uses out of it.  As with Grey Hulk, this guy changes the body up a bit by adding a new head sculpt into the mix.  This one’s got Red Hulk’s spikier hair style (which, by the way, never really made much sense, since it’s not like this is anything like Ross’s usual hair style…and where the hell does his mustache go?), and also changes up the expression.  He’s still angry and screaming, but it’s a slightly different looking angry and screaming.  It’s more like someone barking orders, which feels appropriate for the character.  He ditches the torn shirt piece that the last two Hulks had, which is sensible, since I don’t believe Red Hulk’s ever really done the torn shirt thing.  The paint work on this guy is pretty basic, and that’s honestly a little bit of a let down when compared to the other two Hulks I’ve reviewed on this body.  He lacks any real accent work, apart from a little bit on the face.  That much is at least pretty cool, but his body ends up feeling, I don’t know, unfinished, I guess.  In terms of accessories, he gets two sets of hands, one in fists, and one in open gesture.  They make for some nice variety for posing.  In a perfect world, I’d have liked to see maybe another head sculpt as well, maybe with the grin the character frequently sported, but I suppose that, given his size, just the extra hands are acceptable.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Red Hulk hasn’t exactly been the most readily available figure, at least in my neck of the woods.  I’ve not seen him at retail myself, and Target’s site’s really not been much help.  I spent a good chunk of time looking for him, but with no luck.  Fortunately for me, my former co-worker Jon Nieto, who knows how much I like Legends, happened to catch them while they were in stock on the website, and was kind enough to snag a second one for me.  That sure made my life easier!  Thanks Jon!  There’s not a ton new going on with this figure, but the updated Hulk body is still always cool to see again, and he sure does contrast nicely with the 80th Hulk.

#2577: Kingpin

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

KINGPIN

MARVEL LEGENDS RETRO COLLECTION (HASBRO)

“Wilson Fisk ruthlessly rules New York City’s underworld with cunning and a keen intellect.”

Waaaaaay back at the beginning of 2019, which feels like several decades ago at this point, if I’m entirely honest, there was a somewhat soft and not particularly thrilling assortment of Spider-Man-themed Marvel Legends with one notable hook: it’s Build-A-Figure of Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin.  This subsequently made said Kingpin figure pretty darn pricey on the aftermarket, only adding further barriers to entry on owning a modern Legends Kingpin.  Fortunately, Hasbro’s been doing a pretty good job of keeping their fingers to the pulse on these older releases, and has been pretty steadily providing new avenues for people to pick them up.  Kingpin found his way into one of said avenues, and now I’m taking a look at the resulting figure.  How about that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Kingpin follows in Mysterio’s footsteps, and is his own standalone release for the Retro Collection sub-line of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends.  He’s at their deluxe price point, but comes in his own replica vintage card, which is downright massive, as you would expect for a figure this size.  The figure stands 7 1/4 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  Rather unsurprisingly, this figure’s sculpt is mostly a re-use of the Build-A-Figure.  That was a really strong sculpt that did Fisk a lot of justice, so it’s certainly a sensible and well-chosen bit of re-use.  Also not even the slightest bit surprising, what with it being the same guy and all.  There’s one sculpting change between the two releases: this release trades out the last one’s tie for a far more fashionable ascot.  It’s a far more classically Kingpin piece, and it really sells the character even further.  It’s about the only change I could ask for, so I’m happy they went for it.  Beyond that small change, everything else on this figure relies on paint to sell the differences.  While the BaF went for a far more modernized color scheme for the character, this newer release leans into that retro angle, and gives us a far more classically inspired color scheme for the character.  While I didn’t mind the more subdued modern color scheme, there’s just something to be said for how well these colors pop.  And he’s even got the purple pants!  Dig!  The heads even get some minor reworking as well, with the eyebrows on both now being black instead of grey (again, helping things pop a little more), and the screaming head also gets some painted battle damage.  Again, dig.  This Kingpin once again gets his diamond-topped cane.  He’s still got some trouble holding it, but it’s still cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was a big fan of the BaF version of Kingpin when it was released, but I’ll admit I was hoping for an ever so slightly more classically colored version of the figure.  When this was announced, I was definitely on board, though he was, perhaps, not quite at the top of my list, given the similarities to the prior figure.  That said, he ended up being an even better figure than I’d expected, and this new deco adds a lot more than I’d expected to the figure.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this guy for review.  If you’re looking for Marvel Legends, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2576: Mystique

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

MYSTIQUE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“A shapeshifter with a shadowy origin, Mystique is a unique and devastating threat to the X-Men.”

A couple of weeks ago, I touched on the somewhat tenuous relationship between the live action X-Men films and Marvel Legends, which has all been rather nicely cleaned up via Disney’s purchase of Fox.  With things taken care of, we’re finally able to get some decent toy coverage of the Fox X-films, courtesy of an off-shoot of Marvel Legends akin to the earlier Marvel Studios: The First Ten Years sub-line, but this time focusing on 20 years of X-Men movies.  I’ve looked at a few of the Deadpool-themed figures, but there’s also some coverage going all the way back to the first film from 2000.  Today, I’m taking a look at Mystique, inspired by that very film.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mystique is one of the three standard single-release figures in the X-Men sub-line of Marvel Legends.  So far, she’s the only figure to be explicitly based on the first film, but time will tell as to exactly how deep into this line Hasbro decides to go.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and she has 26 points of articulation.  Mystique’s articulation set-up is pretty much the same as Domino’s, and it’s likewise a strong set-up here, just like it was there.  I wouldn’t mind just a touch more range on the hip joints, but otherwise the range and tolerancing is really good.  It’s certainly an amazing step up from the *last* movie Mystique we got, although I suppose two decades will do that for you.  As I noted in the intro, this Mystique is specifically based on the character’s appearance in the first movie, and there are a few specifics in the sculpt that confirm this.  The most obvious tell that it’s an early movie version fo the character is the fact that it’s clearly Rebecca Romijn’s face underneath of the make-up on this one.  It’s actually a pretty strong likeness, at that.  Getting some one’s features down when they’re covered by this much appliance work isn’t always easy, but Hasbro’s done pretty well, with not only a strong likeness, but also some solid texturing work on the scales.  This solid work on the texturing continues onto the body, which does a good job of replicating the layout and design of the appliances seen in the movie.  The build on the body also is a pretty solid match for Romijn’s build, as well as just looking like a real person in general.  She’s notably missing the three scars on her belly that she got from Wolverine stabbing her in the first film, which is what signifies this as officially being a first movie figure, although the scars are a minor enough detail that she’ll work alright for the later movies as well.  The paint work on this figure’s better than you might think at first glance.  She’s a lot of blue, but she’s a lot of different blues, and it’s a nice layout of accenting.  Mystique is packed with two sets of hands (open and in fists) and an alternate left arm that’s shifting into a normal skin tone.  The alternate arm’s a fun way of showing off her powers, and I definitely dig it.  I was a little bit surprised that they didn’t toss in a Jennifer Lawrence head as well, just to let this figure pull of some double duty, but given what happened with her planned Marvel Select figure, I can see Hasbro not wanting to chance her pulling likeness approval again at the last minute.  It’s not like she’s without cool extras as is.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Mystique’s been a prominent fixture in the X-films since their beginning, so the fact that the only figure she got was way back during the first movie’s tie-in line was kind a major oversight.  It’s nice that we got more than a bunch of Wolverine variants to start with, and it’s nice that the older movies are still getting some appreciation as well.  Mystique’s a slightly understated figure, lacking some of the flair of the other figures, but that doesn’t make her any less a cool figure.  Here’s hoping we get to fill out the rest of the first movie cast a bit more.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure for review.  If you’re looking for Marvel Legends, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2575: Spider-Man 2099

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

SPIDER-MAN 2099

MARVEL MINIMATES

When last I talked Marvel Minimates, I was discussing the rather infamous Series 7, the line’s dreaded “retread wave”, an assortment that was more than 2/3 redundant.  I had delved most of the way into it, but of the two actually new ‘mates included there in, I have thus far only reviewed one, leaving one last figure for me to look at.  Gee, I wonder what I’ll be looking at today…perhaps that exact figure?  Yeah, probably.  Let’s do this, I guess.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Man 2099 was one of the two unique pieces in the seventh specialty assortment of the Marvel Minimates line.  In fact, if you *really* want to get into it, he was actually the only truly unique piece in the line-up, since the other one, Chameleon, actually got two releases within Series 7 itself.  So that’s…cool, I guess?  2099 was packaged with Silver Surfer, which was an off the wall pairing to be sure.  Surfer had, of course had one prior release, and had another two on the horizon following this one, and is a ‘mate I’ve already reviewed.  2099 is a vanilla ‘mate, relying on just the core long-footed Minimate body, meaning he’s 2 1/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  2099 is, notably, one of four ‘mates in Series 7 to not use any add-ons, making it a very parts sparse assortment as a whole.  He really *should* have gotten a cape piece, and honestly would have probably benefited from Venom’s clawed hands.  It probably would have helped add some pop to the design, because as it is, he’s kind of…flat?  The paint work is doing the heavy lifting here, and while it’s fine from a technical stand point, it doesn’t really do a ton to make the design pop off of the page.  The blue seems a little light, and the red a little dark, and he lacks any sort of musculature detailing or anything.  Again with the flatness.  2099 included no accessories, lest he have anything else going on to add potential excitement to the assortment.  Can’t have that, can we?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When Series 7 hit, the only set I actually picked up was 2099 and Silver Surfer, because it wasn’t totally redundant, and I didn’t yet have Surfer.  As I noted in my review of Surfer, I lost a good chunk of the parts to my 2099 over the years.  The one seen here is actually on loan to me from Max, who was kind enough to help me round out this last piece of Series 7, just so I could finally be done with it.  Honestly, there’s not much to write home about here.  He was new and unique at the time, but I can’t say he was particularly thrilling.

#2574: Invisible Man

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

INVISIBLE MAN

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS MONSTERS (SIDESHOW)

“Universal Studios created and truly defined the horror film genre beginning in the 1920s.  In 1933, Universal released The Invisible Man, starring Claude Rains.  It was Rains’ unique speaking voice that won him the part and which was vital to portraying a man who, in a great portion of the film, would be invisible to the audience.  The role also assured Rains a place in Universal Studios’ unique and rich history of horror films.

The Invisible Man is the story of a mysterious doctor who, through his relentless experiments, discovers a serum that renders him invisible.  Covered by bandages and dark glasses, it is only his clothing that will reveal his form and presence.

Fleeing to a remote English village, the doctor tries to hide the effects of his serum.  However, the drug that was his ultimate discovery is slowly driving him to the brink of insanity, as he begins his spree of horror.”

It’s Halloween dear readers!  I know, given the general horror abounding in our everyday lives this past year, today is, perhaps, not as hard hitting as prior Halloweens.  But let’s try to be somewhat in the spirit, you guys!  Every Halloween, I like to review something appropriately spooky for the day.  In contrast to 6 of the 7 prior Halloween reviews, I’m not reviewing a Minimates set, though I’m still sticking with the overall Universal Monsters theme I’ve grown so accustomed to.  Sideshow Collectibles was kind of synonymous with Universal Monsters for a solid chunk of the ’00s.  While their main claim to fame for years has been their impressive output of 1/6 scale figures, their initial offerings were actually a little bit on the shorter side.  I’m looking at one of their earliest figures, the Invisible Man, today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Invisible Man was released in 2000 as part of Series 3 of Sideshow’s Universal Studios Monsters line.  Packed alongside the Hunchback and the Metaluna Mutant, the Invisible Man was definitely this assortment’s heavy hitter.  The figure stands 8 inches tall and he has 10 points of articulation.  The Invisible Man has a couple of looks over the course of the film, and this figure opts for the robed appearance.  It’s probably the most distinctive of his looks, and certainly makes for the sharpest looking figure.  The sculpt on this figure was unique to him, as was the case for most of the line.  He, again like the rest of the line, was designed more or less as a plastic statue that happened to have some joints for minor tweaking to the pose, rather than being a more traditional action figure.  The best range is definitely on the neck joint, though the elbow and shoulder joints do have a little bit of flex to them as well.  The mid-leg cut joints are pretty much exclusively for tweaking the balance of the figure to keep him standing, which isn’t too dynamic, but does help keep this guy standing.  Moving past the mobility of the figure, the actual quality on the sculpt is pretty good, if perhaps a touch un-even.  The best work is definitely on the head, which has a ton of texturing and pretty much perfectly recreates the masked appearance as seen in the film.  From the neck down, there’s markedly less texturing work.  It’s still a good recreation of his garb from the film, in a sharp and clean fashion.  It’s fairly striking looking, and honestly works out pretty well, even if the texturing is absent.  Given what he’s wearing, it actually looks pretty solid.  The figure’s paint work is pretty strong work as well.  Again, the head’s the best work, with a believably weathered set of bandages.  The rest of the figure is more basic coloring, but there’s some impressive work on the patterns on the robe and the pants.  As with the rest of the line, there was a “Silver Screen” edition, which did all of the paint work in a grey scale color scheme, matching the actual film presentation.  It’s a little more limited in its application, but it’s still a cool concept.  Regardless of version, the Invisible Man was packed with an unmasked head, three books, and a display stand.  The head’s a fascinating piece, because honestly it’s something that would be far more accurately recreated with just a removable head, but they went to the trouble of sculpting a really impressive Claude Rains likeness and then totally hiding it by leaving it translucent and unpainted.  That’s commitment right there.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This line hit right in tandem with my first real stint with the Universal Monster movies, so I was very actively aware of it.  I only ever owned one figure from it, largely due to it being a pretty popular line, and me being an 8 year old without any money or transportation of his own.  I recall seeing this particular figure one time in a Toys R Us, while on a shopping trip with my Nana.  She was always pretty invested on pushing me into more conventional toys, so I ended up leaving the store with two X-Men: Movie figures instead (though, me being me, I went with Jean Grey and Professor X; yes, the girl and the guy in the wheel chair, which still raised some comment from Nana, who was really pushing for Wolverine and Magneto).  That marked the only time I saw this figure in person until earlier this month, when an entire set of this line came into All Time.  I snagged this guy for me right away, and I’m honestly really happy to finally have him.  He’s perhaps not the most action oriented piece, but he’s a really nice display piece.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this guy for review.  If you’re looking for toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2573: Mountain Trooper

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

MOUNTAIN TROOPER

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Like all First Order Stormtroopers, specialized units of Batuu Mountain Troopers are trained from birth, growing up with unit designations instead of names and fed a steady diet of First Order propaganda to ensure absolute loyalty.”

There were no shortage of new Trooper variants introduced into Star Wars with the latest trilogy of films, and as such there’s also been no shortage of Trooper variant toys.  I’ve looked at a fair number of them here on the site, be they prominent in the films, or exceedingly minor.  What makes today’s particular Trooper different?  Near as anyone can tell, today’s focus the Mountain Trooper exists nowhere but in the toys, and only in a very exclusive set of them at that.  That’s actually pretty out there for a Star Wars concept, if you can believe it.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Mountain Trooper was originally added to the Black Series line in the Disney Parks-exclusive “The First Order” boxed set with Kylo Ren, Commander Pyre, and a Mouse Droid.  Like DJ R3X, he was given an outside of the parks release this year courtesy of Target’s exclusive “Trading Outpost” sub-line.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  From a design stand point, there’s a lot of similar lineage here as we saw on the Scarif Troopers, as well as a little bit of Biker Scout thrown in, albeit with all of the elements somewhat updated to the slightly tweaked First Order aesthetic.  Ultimately, he ends up feeling like the First Order answer to the Biker Scouts, and I am totally on board with that.  Structurally, the figure uses the legs and hands of the Scarif-based troopers as a starting point.  Everything else is new, but it definitely all has a similar feel about it as the other Scarif figures in terms of how the construction is set-up.  The articulation scheme in particular sticks out as being pretty much the same.  This ultimately makes the figure a touch more restricted than some more recent troopers, especially when it comes to the elbow movement.  It’s really the only flaw with the figure.  Beyond that, the sculpt is a pretty impressive one, with a lot impressive and clean detail work.  The figure’s paint work is pretty solid.  The base colors are nice and strong, and the application is clean.  The figure also takes advantage of the printing technique to give the Trooper some pretty solid looking weathering.  The Mountain Trooper is packed with a single accessory: an all-new blaster rifle, which also sports some impressive weathering.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My love of the Biker Scout and Scarif Trooper designs is no secret, so it’s probably not a terrible surprise that this guy intrigued me as soon as he was shown off. I hadn’t had the opportunity to procure the three pack, for obvious reasons, so when the Trading Outpost figures were announced, I was hopeful to find him.  Life’s been pretty jam-packed and hectic for me recently, so a few weeks ago Christian and Cheyenne forced me to take some time for myself and took me to Target to pick up a few things just for me.  I just so happened to walk back to the toy aisle right as the Outpost figures were going out, and boom, there this guy was.  He’s not anything amazingly special or anything like that, but he’s pretty fun, and I’m glad I was able to get a hold of him.

#2572: Red Ninja

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

RED NINJA

G.I. JOE: CLASSIFIED SERIES (HASBRO)

Oh, we’re just out of the frying pan and into the fire on G.I. Joe elements that Ethan’s not too big on, aren’t we?  That’s right, Ethan doesn’t really care for the Red Ninjas.  Let’s discuss.  The Red Ninjas were introduced in issue #21 of Marvel’s G.I. Joe comic, which is the famous “Silent Interlude,” the story that also introduced Storm Shadow, solidified Snake Eyes as a fan favorite, and hinted at a possible connection between the two.  Storm Shadow was, of course, introduced into the toy line the same year as “Silent Interlude’s” publication, but the Red Ninjas were not part of the line, since they were initially just rather generic looking ninjas meant to serve as Storm Shadow’s back-up.  They wouldn’t join the toy line proper until 1993, under the Ninja Force banner, and with a rather different look.  It wouldn’t be until the 2000s that we would get the more classic attire in toy form.  They then went on the be a key piece of one of the most infuriatingly repetitive sequences in G.I. Joe: Retaliation, and also got some more toys along the way.  And now they’re in the Classified Series line-up, which I guess isn’t unreasonable.  I guess.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Red Ninja is figure 08 in the Classified Series line-up, capping off the second main release series of figures.  Given how “core cast” the figures have been so far, he’s slightly obscure by comparison, but if you factor in that the Snake Eyes movie was supposed to be hitting this year, likely right around when this particular assortment would have arrived on shelves, it makes a bit more sense.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and he has 37 points of articulation.  The original Red Ninja design in the comics was a rather basic one, essentially being standard ninja garb, but in red.  Nothing thrilling or anything, but it’s a pretty straight forward look.  When it comes to toy designs, they’ve always been a little inconsistent.  The v1 figure’s a garish ’90s monstrosity, and subsequent releases have generally stuck to just being repaints of whatever Storm Shadow mold is available at the moment.  This one opts to take the basic Ninja look and inject it with, like, steroids, or something.  Remember how I was bringing up the whole “over designing” thing on Cobra Commander?  Yeah, I think it’s worse here.  There’s just too much going on with this guy.  He’s got a hood.  He’s got a collar.  He’s got a faceplate.  He’s got shoulder pads. He’s got gear strapped onto gear.  Where the Cobra Trooper took a lot of piece meal elements and made them flow into something that felt cohesive, and added a bit of customization, there is neither customization nor cohesiveness with this guy.  He’s just got…stuff everywhere.  At his core, this figure uses the same body as Snake Eyes, and boy did I love that Snake Eyes mold.  Unfortunately, one of the strengths of the Snake Eyes mold was its sleekness and posablitity.  This figure throws a bunch of stuff on top of the body, which ruins both the sleekness and the posability, and I don’t really feel that the appearance of the stuff they threw on top of him really justified the sacrifices they made.  Posing the figure for the photos was a bit of a chore, if I’m honest, and that’s not what you want out of a toy.  The paint’s not too terrible, I suppose.  There’s a few different shades of red going on, but I think they come together all right, and the pupil-less white eyes are appropriately eerie.  In terms of accessories, he’s at least well-armed, with two swords, two Sais, two Kama, and two axes, all borrowed from the Pulse-exclusive Snake Eyes figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My enthusiasm for the Red Ninja has never been all that high.  Honestly, I think armies of faceless ninjas are a little over done as a whole, and it’s hard to dissuade me of that.  However, I am still a fan of a good action figure, and figures such as the Articulated Icons Basic Red Ninja did just that.  And perhaps that figure did things a little too well, I suppose, because this guy just really doesn’t click with me.  He’s one of those figures that feels lesser than the sum of his parts, because there are certainly elements that I like, but I just don’t enjoy the final product all that much.  In fact, I so don’t like the final product that I didn’t even opt to keep this one I’m reviewing, which is actually now in Max’s possession.  That’s just how it is some times, I guess.  With this guy out of the way, here’s to some slightly more exciting army builders.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2571: Gung-Ho

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

GUNG-HO

G.I. JOE: CLASSIFIED SERIES (HASBRO)

♫Ooooooooh, every party has a pooper, that’s why we invited Gung-Ho!♫…..Sorry, does that seem harsh?  ‘Cause, I’m about to be real with y’all, I…uh…I don’t really care for Gung-Ho.  I get that he’s one of the core characters to a lot of people, I do, really, but I’ve just really never liked him.  I began my dislike of him in 2002, when I was first discovering 3 3/4 inch Joes, and I was forced to buy a Gung-Ho to get the Destro figure that I actually wanted…and then it pretty much stopped there, because I didn’t really like Gung-Ho, so I just never bought one again.  Well, until now, that is.  Look, I want to support this new G.I. Joe line, and I suppose I don’t have the seething hatred of the guy that my 10-year-old self did.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Gung-Ho is figure 07 in Hasbro’s G.I. Joe Classified Series, the second figure numerically in the second main release assortment of the line.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 36 points of articulation.  Design-wise, Gung-Ho’s not a terribly radical departure from his original v1 design…at least as a whole.  He’s got the same basic look to him, but some of the more real-world military elements are a bit different this time.  Notably, his hat isn’t quite shaped the same way as a proper Marine cap would be, which has some caused a bit of a stir amongst the purists in the audience.  As someone who’s first introduction to the character was the 2002 version, who also had a more generic hat, I didn’t realize it was that big an issue.  Ultimately, the rest of his get-up’s never been much for regulation anyway, but different strokes and all that.  The other notable adjustment is giving his vest a more sci-fi make-over, which matches with the adjustments made to other characters.  In terms of construction, Gung-Ho marks another bit of parts re-use for the line.  In a similar fashion to Beach Head making use of some of Duke’s parts, Gung-Ho is built on the same core body as Roadblock.  He gets a new head, of course, as well as a new left knee (sans knee pad), and new add-ons for his hat, vest, wrist and shoulder guards, and a thigh piece.  The wrist and thigh add-ons previously were seen on the Cobra Island Roadblock variant, though they were designed for this guy.  The head and hat pieces are definitely the best work on the figure.  Gung-Ho’s got a pretty distinctive look, and it’s well translated to this figure.  The hat sits tight on the head, and you could be forgiven for not realizing it’s actually a separate piece.  Removing it reveals an adorable little patch of hair at the very top of Gung-Ho’s head, which is actually a really fun little touch.  Gung-Ho’s paint work is pretty decent.  It’s fairly subdued, in keeping a bit more with the more recent renditions of his design.  It’s certainly not the turquoise of his original figure.  Another notable change-up to his design occurs under this section; Gung-Ho’s tattoo has classically been a slight take off of the Marine insignia (although not an exact match, since that’s trademarked), but for this release, it goes a bit further away from that source, presumably to further avoid any trademark issues.  Gung-Ho continues the line’s trend towards impressive accessory selections, with a backpack and three different guns: a shotgun, an assault rifle, and a grenade launcher looking thing.  The back pack can carry two of the guns at a time, which is pretty fun, though they do have a tendency to pop out of place somewhat easily.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I noted in my intro, I’m not much of a Gung-Ho fan.  In fact, I dislike him so much that when I drew up a series of G.I. Joe parody strips while I was in middle school, I ever so eloquently named his parody match “Dung-Ho”.  I know, I’m very clever.  All of this is to say that I wasn’t super thrilled by the prospect of this guy in the new line, but once I saw the prototype, I was actually somewhat intrigued.  He changes up some design elements, much like many of the figures in this line, but I think it works for the overall figure, and he’s got a lot of cool stuff going on.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2570: Cobra Commander

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

COBRA COMMANDER

G.I. JOE: CLASSIFIED SERIES (HASBRO)

Since it was re-branded in the ’80s, G.I. Joe has been as much about the evil forces of Cobra as it has about the titular team of heroes.  The very first year of the line saw (as a mail away, anyway), the introduction of one of the most distinctive faces of the franchise…despite his lack of, you know, an actual face, Cobra Commander, the faceless leader to the faceless goons!  It’s really not much of a Joe line without him at this point, so it comes as little shock that he’s a pretty early addition to Hasbro’s recent relaunch…with three separate versions, no less.  Today, I’m looking at the only version I have so far, the most standard-est of the bunch!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cobra Commander is figure 06 in the G.I. Joe: Classified Series line-up, and heads up the second main release assortment of the line, which wound up being the third assortment at retail if you count the Target stuff…look, let’s not think about it too much, okay?  The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  He’s a little bit more restricted than some of the other figures in the line, missing out on the drop hips and the ball jointed waist in particular.  While it’s a little bit of a bummer, it’s not the end of the world, since the Commander’s rarely as agile as a lot of the other characters in the franchise, and what he has still allows him to pull of a lot of really good poses for the character.  Cobra Commander’s design is definitely a take on his original V1 battle-helmeted design, which has always been my preferred lineage for redesigns of the Commander.  This figure follows in the footsteps of both the Valor Vs Venom and Resolute takes on this particular look, taking the slightly more utilitarian design of the original figure and injecting some of the regal flair that would become so integral to the character.  On the whole, I think the design works, but I’ll also freely admit that there’s a degree of overdesigning going on with this guy, especially when compared to others in the line.  There are areas where I think simplifying things just a touch would help sell the design.  In particular, I think there’s just a little too much going on with the gloves, and the shoulder pad/half-cape also seems a little bit too involved.  I think this guy’s similarities to the Resolute version might be hurting him in that regard, because that design’s pretty cleanly handled, and is kind of the gold standard for Cobra Commander re-designs.  This one is quite far from being bad, mind you, and I do still really like a lot about it.  The paint work on this guy takes the Commander’s usual color scheme and slightly dials it back, going for an overall more subdued appearance, at least as far as the blues are considered.  As with the overall design on the sculpt, there’s perhaps a little too much going on with some of the color work, but as a whole it works, and it’s certainly got the appropriate vibe behind it.  Cobra Commander is packed with two sets of hands, one pointing/fist combo, and one gripping/open gesture combo, as well as a flintlock-style gun and a small sword.  The hands are definitely great for getting some expressive poses out of him, but I find the weapons once again fall victim to the dreaded over designing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m all-in on this new Joe line, or at the very least all-in on all of the standard release stuff, so there was no way I was missing out on the Commander.  I was planning to snag him through All Time, but ended up getting him just a bit earlier courtesy of Max, who snagged the standard early and then decided to upgrade to the PulseCon exclusive version.  While I see a few more flaws on this guy than with the prior figures, he’s still a solid figure.  Now I have to debate about whether I want the two repaints.

#2569: Cobra Trooper

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

COBRA TROOPER

G.I. JOE: CLASSIFIED SERIES (HASBRO)

So, how ’bout that new G.I. Joe line?  Aren’t you all really glad that everything from it’s so easy to get at regular pricing and not getting scalped at the first chance pretty much everywhere?  Oh, right, that’s…that’s just how it is in my dreams.  The real world is far more sad and painful.  What a shame.  Well, despite the relative insanity that is this line and its distribution, here’s another new review, of one of those insanely hard to get items, nonetheless.  Please don’t hurt me.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Cobra Trooper is figure 12 in the Classified Series line-up, making him numerically the last of the “Special Missions: Cobra Island” singles.  As with that whole sub-line, he’s a Target exclusive, but as Pulse Con confirmed, there’s a slightly tweaked version of this guy coming out in the main line in a few months.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has 37 points of articulation.  Like a lot of the figures coming out of this line, the Cobra Trooper’s design has its roots in the v1 figure design.  That said, this one works in a lot more modernized elements, and even grabs from a few later incarnations (the v3 from ’06 comes to mind, given the full balaclava under the helmet).  The final assembled product feels very v1-esque, but there’s a lot of layers going on there.  As with pretty much everything from the line so far, it’s a truly impressive sculpt, with a ton of detail work and careful thought being put into how it all assembles.  I really dig how much work goes into stuff like the mask, most of which is never going to be seen when it’s under the helmet.  This is definitely one of the line’s most impressive sculpts (though I think Beach Head still edges him out in my book).  The paint work is about what you’d expect from Cobra forces.  There’s a lot of blue and black, with just a hint of red.  This version in particular has more black than usual, which doesn’t look bad, but is certainly different.  This particular version of the Cobra Trooper has quite the accessory selection, with the removable helmet, a set of goggles, a removable arm band to give him a higher rank, standard and sniper rifles, two pistols, and a knife.  Everything can actually be stored on the figure at once, which is quite impressive, especially since it doesn’t require him to be holding one of the rifles like most Joes fall back on.  I dig the customization angle that all of these parts give the figure for sure, though I myself am drawn to a rather “standard” trooper set up.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been able to pull some favors to get the rest of the Target-exclusive stuff for this line, but this Trooper in particular has been pretty much a ghost around here since before these figures dropped.  This one’s actually not mine, and is instead Max’s.  He was able to procure one through some of his connections, and even offered to let me have it outright, but I was content just to get to do the review.  He’s a fun figure, but one that I see a lot of people hyping up way too much and ultimately being let-down by.  I’m planning to wait for the standard release myself, but it was nice to get a little preview of how that version should turn out.