Category Archives: Reviews

#2329: Heavy Infantry Mandalorian

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

HEAVY INFANTRY MANDALORIAN

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“A brawny warrior encased in the strongest beskar armor, the mysterious Heavy Infantry Mandalorian is part of a secretive enclave of his people. A born survivor, he guards a precious armory and helps to keep the flames of Mandalorian heritage flickering in this time of galactic chaos.”

By far the breakaway merchandising hit of the three Star Wars franchise entries that had to share last year’s product, The Mandalorian has gotten most of its product from Hasbro in the form of their more collector oriented Black Series line.  The main line has gotten three show-related figures so far, plus there have been two exclusives through Best Buy to fill out the cast a bit more.  The first was IG-11, but the second is Jon Favreau’s unnamed (on screen anyway; his credited name is “Paz Vizla”) heavy infantry Mandalorian, who I’ll be taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Heavy Infantry Mandalorian is Best Buy’s second exclusive Black Series item.  For the first time on an exclusive item, he’s actually a numbered entry in the line, being numbered D2, signifying him as the second entry in the Deluxe sub-line, following General Grievous last year.  He’s based on the character’s appearance in “The Sin.”  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  Despite his bulked up design, Paz is never the less poseable on par with the rest of the more recent figures in the line, meaning he has a pretty easy time getting into all of the necessary poses for the character.  His sculpt is all-new, and it’s quite impressive.  He’s definitely got some serious heft to him, which is appropriate for a character with “Heavy” in his name.  The armored elements all match up with the design as seen on screen pretty well, and the detailing is all pretty sharply defined.  He definitely manages to be a bit more screen accurate than the standard Mando, and it’s not like that particular figure was all that far off.  The paintwork captures the slightly unique color scheme of the character nicely and cleanly.  I really dig the shade of blue they used here, and the flatter colors actually make him stand out pretty well from the rest of the line.  I also quit like the few spots of wear visible throughout the armor.  It gives it that appropriate lived-in feel.  The Heavy Mando only has one accessory, but it’s a really good, pretty darn sizable one, since it’s his heavy blaster.  It’s connected to his jetpack, and features a moving handle and spinning barrels.  Plus, it can also be stored on his back, as seen in the show, and it stays on there nice and securely.  Definitely a very nice piece for an already very nice figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When this guy was shown off (prior to the character’s appearance on the show), I was already on board, because man is that a cool design.  I was a little bummed when I found out he’d be a Best Buy exclusive, but fortunately for me, Max let me know as soon as he went up for preorder on their site, so I was able to get one with no fuss.  Like all of the Mandalorian-centric figures, he’s a really, really solid figure, and just really one of the Black Series‘ best.

#2328: Moon Knight

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

MOON KNIGHT

ONE:12 COLLECTIVE (MEZCO)

I am nothing if not a creature habit, which in this case means not only am I going to steal the joke I used in yesterday’s review, but I’m also going to steal the joke I use in every review of Moon Knight.  Why? Because I’m reviewing MOOOOOOOOOOOOON KNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT, that’s why.  See, it’s Moon Knight, and, uh, I have to do that.  Only way to be sure.  Moon Knight’s had a bit of a hiatus on the action figure love since he somehow managed to get two separate figures from Hasbro in the same year back in 2017.  With a show on the horizon, I imagine prospects will be changing, but in the mean time we get to hold ourselves over with a little something courtesy of Mezco, who have just added Mr. Spector to their One:12 Collective line.  Is the figure unabashedly awesome?  Let’s find out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Moon Knight is an early 2020 release for the One:12 Collective line.  He was first hinted at during last year’s Toy Fair and was supposed to arrive late last year, but got pushed back a few times.  He’s here now, though, which is all that really matters.  There are two versions of Moon Knight available.  The one in this review is the standard regular retail version, but there was also a con-exclusive “Crescent Edition” released last year, which gave us a slightly more modern version of the costume.  The standard release gives us Mezco’s take on Marc’s classic all-white attire.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and he’s got over 30 points of articulation.

Like most One:12 figures, Moon Knight gets two different head sculpts, though unlike a lot of the ones I’ve looked at, they’re actually quite a bit different from each other.  The one he comes wearing is definitely the standard.  It’s sporting his usual full face mask, and rather than the usual comics mask that’s devoid of all detail, this one puts a lot of effort into making it look like a real, fully cloth mask.  There’s some stitching up at the top, and plenty of wrinkles and folds within the brow, to help showcase an intense expression beneath the mask.  Unlike most renditions of Moon Knight in plastic (including the Crescent Edition variant of this very figure), the fully masked head is all white like the rest of the suit, instead of the usual black.  It’s a different look than I’m used to, and I’m not sure if I prefer it to the black mask, but a little variety is far from the worst thing.   In order to prevent the eyes from getting lost in all of that white, they’ve been tinted blue, which actually makes for quite a striking appearance.  The second head gives us a partially unmasked version of Marc, with the mask pulled up off of his face.  It’s certainly a unique appearance, and the unmasked face bears a resemblance to Tobias Menzies, at least to my eye.  Hey, it means he looks like a real person, which I certainly count as a plus.  I also really dig the rough and ragged appearance he’s sporting there.  Very classic Marc.  The two heads included here do offer up a nice variety, but I do sort of wish we’d gotten the basic head in black as well, just for the extra options.  Still these two are nice.

Moon Knight is built on the mid-sized male body, which is a respectable choice for him given his usual depictions in the comics.  As is the usual case for this line, it’s a mixed-media set-up, perhaps even more so than some of the others I’ve looked at.  His construction is really most similar to the Ascending Knight Batman, with the costume primarily being a spandex jumpsuit, but with a bunch of rubberized sections designed to make it look like he’s wearing segmented body armor, but also laid out in such a way that the armor looks like it could be dynamic lighting on a more basic jumpsuit.  Like Batman, the moon crescent symbol is a plastic piece, which plugs into the torso and helps to keep the whole suit in place.  The boots, belt, and gauntlets are also sculpted plastic pieces, which follow the stylings of the suit for a slightly more armored and modernized take on the character’s classic design.  They look pretty solid, but I do wish there were a slightly better range of motion on the figure’s ankles.  The cloak is a two-piece affair, with the hood(s) being hard plastic, and the cape part being cloth.  There are two options on the hood; one up and one down.  They both are tailored more to one of the two heads, but can work with either.  The cape itself is probably my least favorite part of the costume.  I just don’t care for the pleather exterior, and I feel like it’s not going to hold up over time.  Also, I’m not really big on the idea of Moon Knight’s cape being a leather like material.  It makes sense for Batman, but given Moon Knight’s desert based origins, leather doesn’t really jibe with the general aesthetic in my mind.

Moon Knight has one of the best accessory compliments of the One:12 line-up.  In addition to the previously mentioned extra head and hood, he also includes four sets of hands (fists, gripping, open, and holding moon discs), a staff, nunchucks, a bladed nunchuck, a large moon blade, a display stand, and a contraption for displaying his cape dynamically.  I do have to laugh a little to myself that Hasbro gave us the smaller moon discs as separate pieces, but Mezco had to mold them to a set of hands.  Otherwise, it’s quite a nice selection of extras, and really sells the more deluxe nature of this particular figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Unlike a lot of the One:12 items I’ve picked up, I did no waffling on this particular figure.  I knew I wanted him from the start, and I stuck right to it, from the time he was shown off to the time he arrived in hand.  I gotta say, Moon Knight’s the sort of figure that really benefits from this style of figure, because there’s a lot of room to mess with the core of the design and have fun with it.  And someone definitely had fun on this figure.  I’d be hard pressed to say this figure would do much for someone who’s only a moderate fan of the character, but if you love Moon Knight, this guy’s worth your time.

I got this guy from my friends All Time Toys, where he is currently in stock here.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay Store.

#2327: Nightwing

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

NIGHTWING

DC MULTIVERSE (MCFARLANE)

“Dick Grayson began his crime-fighting career as the original Robin—Batman’s protégé and crime-fighting partner. An expert acrobat and skilled fighter, Dick eventually left the nest and ventured out on his own as a new hero called Nightwing. His childhood experiences as a circus acrobat and trapeze artist make him extremely agile. He is a superior fighter and a highly skilled martial artist who has been personally trained by Batman. Nightwing is a keen detective, a natural leader, and a strategist with advanced knowledge of a variety of technologies.”

I am nothing if not a creature of habit.  The habit of which I am a creature in this case, apparently, is trying out DC lines with the same two characters.  First Superman, then Nightwing.  I did it with Spin Masters stuff, and lookie here, I’m about to do it with the McFarlane stuff too.  You can’t say I didn’t try to warn you!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nightwing is part of the…well, it’s still the first assortment of DC Multiverse, but it’s like distinctly separate from the one that Superman’s in, I guess?  This one’s got a different price point because there’s a build-a-thing, and so it’s…I don’t know, it’s all a little confusing, or maybe its not.  Forget it Ethan, it’s McFarlane.  Like Superman, this Nightwing figure is, at least in theory, based on specific appearance, namely “Better Than Batman,” the first volume of his Rebirth title, which reintroduced the black and blue color scheme.  Much like the “based on Action Comics #1000″ translated to “McFarlane take on Classic Superman” for yesterday’s figure, “based on Better Than Batman” here translates to “Mcfarlane take on Nightwing’s most recent costume.”  Nightwing stands 7 14 inches tall and he has 35 points of articulation.  He’s pretty much the same height as the Superman figure (and a little taller than the basic Batman), which makes him a little tall for Dick, but believe me, he’s not the worst case of internal scaling in the line.  His articulation isn’t too different from Clark’s.  There’s better range in the arms for this guy, which is good, but I didn’t find the neck joint quite as useful this time around.  The legs are also still kind of clicky and heavy on the ratcheting for my taste, making him not a ton of fun to pose.  I will say he’s pretty stable on his feet, though, so kudos to McFarlane on that.  Let’s discuss the sculpt.  By and large, I don’t like this sculpt quite as much as the Superman, largely due to this one feeling far more uneven.  The head’s definitely the strongest part, and I definitely get an effective Dick Grayson vibe off of it.  Not sure if it’s quite a Rebirth Dick Grayson vibe, but that’s really splitting hairs.  The body’s where things get funkier.  At first glance, I thought this figure’s arms were too short, and he was kinda giving me T-Rex vibes.  In-hand, it doesn’t seem like it’s the arms that are throwing things off, but perhaps the torso?  I think it’s too large relative to the rest of the figure.  It’s hard to say for sure, but it definitely looks off.  The legs, especially below the knee, also seem slightly…mishapen?  With the right posing, it doesn’t look bad, but there’s definitely something weird about this figure’s proportions in general.  As with Superman, the costume has been given an assortment of extra little details littered throughout.  I myself tend to prefer a more streamlined Nightwing, but these details still work better on him than they did on Superman.  Nightwing’s paintwork is more in line with McFarlane’s usual output than Superman was, being a little murkier on the details, and slightly washed out.  It’s not a bad look, but compared to something like the Essentials figure, he looks almost unfinished.  Maybe that’s just my classic sensibilities kicking up, though.  Nightwing is packed with his batons, a piece of the mini-Batmobile, a display stand, and a card.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I was sold on Superman, I was still kinda on the fence with this guy.  I liked parts of him, but I wasn’t sure about the whole.  Max wanted the mini-Batmobile piece, so he bought this guy, and ended up pretty much just giving him to me.  He’s not a bad figure.  Honestly, he’s probably about as good as the Essentials figure, which also had it’s pluses and minuses.  However, I still personally prefer the Essentials release and its slightly cleaner approach to the character.  Both figures have their merits, and neither one is truly definitive, so I guess I’m just gonna have these two nearly identical Nightwings in my collection.  Oh, the oddity of me.

#2326: Superman

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

SUPERMAN

DC MULTIVERSE (MCFARLANE)

“Sent to Earth from the dying planet of Krypton as a baby, Kal-El was found by farmers Martha and Jonathan Kent and raised as their son, Clark.  As Clark grew up, the radiation from Earth’s yellow sun gave him extraordinary powers, which he kept hidden.  Now fully grown, he uses his powers to protect his adopted world as Superman.  The Man of Steel is virtually invulnerable and has the powers of super-strength, super-speed, and flight.  He also has enhanced senses, including heat vision, X-ray vision, super-hearing, and super-breath.”

When Mattel lost the DC license (or chose not to pursue a renewal, depending on who you ask), it was split between two main licensees.  For the more all-ages oriented toys, Spin Master has the license, and I’ve already taken a look at a couple of their offerings.  Now I’m jumping over to the other company, McFarlane Toys, who will be handling the more collectors-oriented side of things.  I’m kicking things off with their take on the Man of Steel.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superman is part of the rather large assortment 1 product launch for McFarlane’s DC Multiverse line.  While all 12 of the initial figures are technically part of the same assortment, they’ve been broken down into a few different subsets.  Three variants each of Superman and Batman make up the first grouping of figures.  This particular Superman is the most standard fare, being based specifically on his appearance in Action Comics #1000…at least according to the box.  I’ll touch on that in a bit.  The figure stands 7 1/4 inches tall and he has 33 points of articulation.  In terms of scaling, these guys are pretty big.  You won’t be mixing them with your Legends to be sure, as they’re more in line with McFarlane’s other offerings or the stuff coming from NECA.  You could also probably mix some of them in with the DC Essentials figures, thought they’re a bit large even for those. While there’s certainly a lot of articulation, the effectiveness of a good number of the joints is a little on the iffy side.  The neck joint and mid-torso both have some decent range, as well a smooth motion to them.  The legs have decent mobility, but the joints are really clicky and a little tricky to work with.  The arms are the worst of the bunch, with really heavily ratcheted joints, poor range on the shoulders and the elbows, and some truly hideous design on the wrists.  Ultimately, you can get some fairly decent poses out of him, but for someone who’s used to Legends, he’s a bit of a pain to pose.  Articulation aside, how’s the actual sculpt.  Well, in my eyes, Superman is the best of the initial offerings, so I don’t think it’s that bad.  For the most part, the proportions are fairly balanced and realistic, while still being rather heroic.  Although he’s supposedly based on Jim Lee’s depiction of Clark from Action 1000, I don’t get much Lee out of this sculpt myself.  The head’s a little wonky; I’m not sure exactly what kind of likeness or expression they’re going for here, but he seems a little…off from my usual mind’s eye version of Clark.  It’s not terrible, though, and far from the worst head sculpt in the bunch.  It’s probably not helping that the head was one of the few things I unquestionably liked about the Essentials figure when I reviewed it.  The body sculpt is decent, but does run into a little bit of Todd being Todd and adding details that don’t necessarily need to be there.  He’s got some various piping running along various parts of his costume, and the insignia is now large and raised.  I do like the cape a lot; while I’m not always a huge fan of the overly large cape for Superman, it works well here, and it has a nice, dynamic flow to it.  Superman’s paintwork is pretty basic, which is a good thing, because I was a little worried that was another area where things might get all Todded up.  Application is mostly pretty clean, apart from a few small issues here and there.  The most glaring thing on my figure was a little spot of flesh tone on the hair.  Superman is packed with two sets of hands, a flight stand, and a collectors card.  The hands are probably my biggest complaint, because they don’t feel very suited to the poses I want out of a Superman.  The relaxed hands aren’t as handy as a pair of flat flying hands might have been, and I can’t begin to fathom why we got a gripping hand for the right instead of a fist to match the left.  He doesn’t even come with anything to hold!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, I was hesitant on the McFarlane stuff, due to them not having the best track record.  When they showed this figure off, I wasn’t much of a fan of the proto, but after getting to see him in person, I decided to at least give him a chance.  Ultimately, he’s not bad, and certainly an admirable effort from McFarlane.  He’s still got his flaws, though, and I’m hoping they can offer some improvements.  Still, he’s a solid piece on his own.

I got my figure from my friends at All Time Toys.  If you’re looking for other cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay Store.

#2325: Boba Fett vs IG-88

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

BOBA FETT VS IG-88

STAR WARS: SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE (KENNER)

“Boba Fett, infamous bounty hunter and weapons master, vanished from sight after Darth Vader turned over the frozen body of Han Solo. Boba Fett was expected to deliver his bounty to Jabba the Hutt’s palace on the planet Tatooine some time ago. Knowing the value of his shipment and the various hunters determined to take it from him, Fett disappeared into the mists of the galaxy’s Outer Rim to bide his time. Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca and Princess Leia search the galaxy for his ship, Slave I, with the hopes of freeing Solo from his carboinite prison, Fearless, clever, and always full of surprises, even the Empire cannot pinpoint this master hunter’s whereabouts.

The battered war droid IG-88 was among the bounty hunters commissioned by Darth Vader to hunt down and capture the Millennium Falcon after the Battle of Hoth. IG-88 is one of five droids created by Holowan scientists, who deliberately programmed the units to maximize their freedom of action in combat. This experiment proved tragic when, upon activiation, the new IG prototypes eliminated their programmers and escaped to fulfill whatever mission lie within their distorted metallic intellects. IG-88’s programming has caused it to value Imperial credits over organic life, making it a devastatingly efficient hunting machine. It is loaded down with a mass of heavy weaponry such as a heavy blaster and blaster rifle as well as a flamethrower, sonic stunner and grenade launcher.

It has been rumored that IG-88 is one of the many bounty hunters seeking Boba Fett and his prisoner. Though bounty hunters rarely break their vocational code by stealing or eliminating one another, the capture of Han Solo promises enough credits to cause most hunters to forget this formality. This is especially true for IG-88, who has little regard for laws, especially unwritten ones. The droid is literally a killing machine and one of the most dangerous hunters in the galaxy. Many consider it the equal of Boba Fett, who is generally known as the most effective bounty hunter anywhere. Upon entering the Tatooine system, Boba Fett was ambushed by the droid in its ship, IG-2000. Certain of his ability to destroy the droid, Boba Fett soon discovered that IG-88 had a few tricks of his own…”

Man, those Kenner cards sure were wordy, huh?  Guess they really wanted to fill this pack’s extra card back space.  Not much else I can add here that wasn’t already said, I guess.  So, uh, let’s look at Boba Fett and IG-88, shall we?

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

There were two comic packs released as part of the Shadows of the Empire subline of Power of the Force in 1996.  While the other was just slight re-poses of Vader and Xizor, this one paired off a valid variant of Boba Fett with the as of yet un-produced for the modern line IG-88.

BOBA FETT

One of the earliest Power of the Force figures, Boba Fett was also one of the most sought after.  This pack was one of the handful of attempts to alleviate that issue.  He’s really not all that different from the single carded figure overall.  The construction is essentially the same, with the figure standing 3 3/4 inches tall and having 6 points of articulation.  His sculpt keeps the same general aesthetic as both the single card and deluxe releases, but with a slightly different pose.  This one’s got more of a basic “just standing around” pose.  The main change that occurs for this figure is a paint one; while both the single and deluxe releases used the slightly more colorful Return of the Jedi color scheme for Fett, this guy goes with the original, green-heavy Empire design, making this actually the first truly Empire accurate Fett in figure form.  Fett is packed with his rocket pack, scarf/braid, and his blaster rifle.

 

IG-88

IG-88 is the only of the Executor Bounty Hunters not to be released in PotF2 proper, with this being the only way to get him until he got another figure in Power of the Jedi.  I guess getting an IG-88 is worth getting saddled with another Boba Fett.  This figure stands just shy of 4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  Unlike most Power of the Force figures (but, by contrast, like a lot the PotF vehicles), IG’s sculpt is actually just slightly retooled from his vintage release.  Given that was one of the very best vintage sculpts, it’s an understandable choice, and also somehow makes IG one of the least dated looking ’90s era figure.  The sculpt has been slightly reworked in order to add a mid-torso joint, bringing him in line with the rest of the figures of the era.  IG-88’s paintwork is pretty decent; it’s more involved than either of the vintage offerings, with a lot of variance to the actual finish of his metal parts.  It looks a little more movie accurate than the prior versions.  The figure is packed with two blasters, one long, one short, both modified to make them easier for IG to hold.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I wasn’t quite on the IG bandwagon when this set was new, I recall my cousin Noah having it, and it stuck in my memory for a while.  When it came time to fill in the holes in my PotF collection, I knew I needed an IG for sure, and was lucky enough for this pack to be traded into All Time early last year, so I was able to grab one.  IG’s definitely cool, and honestly, this Boba’s better than the single carded release, so I’d consider this pair a win.

#2324: Demogoblin

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

DEMOGOBLIN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Boy do the Spider-Man foes have some confusing legacies.  Following the death of Norman Osborn, and by extension the Green Goblin, the Goblin role in Spider-Man’s rogue’s gallery fractured.  While the Green Goblin identity remained in play, we were also introduced to the mysterious Hobgoblin, a variant on the legacy role.  Hobgoblin himself became a legacy character, actually fairly early into his life.  The fourth man to take on the name was Jason Macendale, who had previously been the original Jack O’Lantern.  Macendale would end up gaining demonic powers from the demon N’astirh during the Inferno cross-over, and those demonic traits would eventually be separated from him and made into their own character, the Demogoblin.  Confused?  Yeah, me too.  Look, he’s got a toy, and I’m gonna review it.  Let’s get to that!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Demogoblin is the build-a-figure for the first Spider-Man-themed series of Marvel Legends for 2020.  He had previously been shown off as a single-carded figure for the Lizard Series back in 2018, but was replaced by Lasher in the assortment proper.  He’s been rumored for every Spider assortment since, finally showing up here.  I know a lot of people are happy to finally have him.  Demogoblin has had one prior figure in this scale, as part of Hasbro’s early Spider-Man Origins line, but that was a rather hasty repaint of Hobgoblin, making this his first proper figure.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Given the common lineage, this figure does end up re-using a fair number of parts from the Space Venom Hobgoblin, itself a variant of the Bucky Cap mold.  Demo reuses the torso, arms, boots, and cape from that figure, as well as getting the standard Bucky Cap legs in place of the scaly ones Hobgoblin was sporting.  It’s all topped off with a new head, forearms, hands, and webgear for the torso.  While Hobgoblin did include a demonic Macendale head as an extra, this one goes even further with the demonic appearance, incorporating more inhuman features, and a far more tattered hood.  I really like it, and it’s an improvement on the prior piece in pretty much every way.   The rest of the new parts similarly continue that trend of improvement, and he makes for quite a dynamic looking figure.  The paintwork matches the usual Demogoblin color scheme.  Everything is cleanly applied and does its job.  This figure is one that probably would have benefited from maybe a wash or something to help really play up that demonic side, but I suppose there’s a lot of room for error when you spread something like that across multiple build-a-figure parts, so maybe it’s for the best that they didn’t attempt it.  Demogoblin gets an all-new glider, which is distinct from both Hob and Green Goblin, and even features a flight stand (borrowed from The Black Series), which is the sort of trend I’d love to see continue with such things.  It also helps to make him feel a little more worthy of that build-a-figure slot.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m not personally that invested in Demogoblin as a character, but after he was displaced (admittedly for a character I wanted more, so no complaints there) I understood why people were anxious to see him turn up elsewhere.  Like a lot of recent BaFs, completing my Demogoblin was really just a side-effect of getting all of the figures in the set, and not really my main focus.  He did turn out really nicely, though.

This assortment is probably the most balanced Spidey assortment I’ve encountered as of late.  While I’d rank the Velocity Suit as the weakest entry, I actually have some trouble picking a favorite, not because they aren’t good, but because I like several figures in the line-up quite a bit.  I think all of the figures in this set stand out nicely on their own, and I quite enjoyed this line-up of figures.

#2323: Vulture

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

VULTURE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Adrian Toomes uses a specialized flying suit to soar through the skies as The Vulture.”

Hasbro has been really working at wrapping up a lot of iconic Marvel team line-ups.  In the Spider-Man department, they’ve had their sights set on a fully updated recreation of the original Sinister Six.  We’re still not *quite* there, but at least we now have all six members in generally classic costumes and from the same universe, thanks to a proper update of classic foe the Vulture.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Vulture is the final single figure in the Demogoblin Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s actually our third Legends Vulture under Hasbro’s tenure, following the movie and ultimate incarnations of the character, but this is the first proper classic old-man Toomes since back in the Toy Biz days.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Like the last comic-inspired release, this guy is built on the Pizza Spidey body, with a new set of arms, a new head, and an add-on piece for his collar.  The head is impressive, because while it’s definitely a new sculpt, replicating Adrian’s aged appearance, it’s got the same exact expression and likeness as the ultimate head (…which, *technically* isn’t Toomes, but the package still identified him as Toomes, so…).  It’s also a good match for how he tends to look in the comics.  The new arms come in tandem with a new set of wings, which plug into the shoulders and forearms.  They’re really great…from the front.  Yeah, they’re really only presentable from one side, which makes them look weird if you catch them from the other direction.  I’m not quite sure why Hasbro opted to handle this way.  It’s not the end of the world, but it is annoying.  It also continues to the paint, where one side gets a nice gradient and the other is just unpainted plastic.  Not hugely surprising, but again a little let down.  The rest of the paint is pretty solid, though.  Rather than paint lines all over the body suit (which has the potential to look sloppy and a little goofy), they’ve done them at key points more as accents.  I wasn’t sure about it at first, but in person I think it really works.  They also did a solid job again with capturing the old man look on the head; he’s even got liver spots!  Vulture is packed with a second head sporting some head gear.  Technically, this should make the second head Blackie Drago, but the face still seems to be Toomes.  Not sure if someone at Hasbro just missed that it’s supposed to be a different guy or what the deal is.  Still it’s a pretty cool piece, and gets us closer to a proper Drago than anything else has.  Vulture is also packed with the head of Demogoblin, which I’ll be looking at alongside the rest of the figure tomorrow.

 

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Ultimate Vulture figure was a perfectly serviceable figure, but as we got more proper classic incarnations of the old Spidey foes, he looked more and more out of place, so this update was very much appreciated.  I’m not the world’s biggest Vulture fan, but I like a lot about this figure, and I think he does a fine job of giving us that classic appearance.

I picked up Vulture from my friends All Time Toys.  If you’re looking for other cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay Store.

#2322: White Rabbit

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

WHITE RABBIT

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“A brilliant woman with a twisted mind, Dr. Lorina Dodson is the deranged Queen of Crime, White Rabbit.”

The best part of a successful super hero toyline is once it gets far enough in that all the main hero’s primary rogues have gotten coverage, and then you get to have the fun of those second and third stringers.  For me, it’s those lower tier characters that really make or break a rogues gallery, especially when they get a good gimmick.  The literary gimmick is not an uncommon one, and Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland is one that’s spawned a few on its own.  The most prominent, of course, is Batman foe the Mad Hatter, but Spider-Man gets in on it to with his own Carroll-ian foe, the White Rabbit, who has recently gotten a nice little notoriety boost courtesy of Nick Spencer’s current run on the main Spider-Man book.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

White Rabbit is part of the Demogablin Series of Marvel Legends, where she is by far the most obscure figure offered up.  It’s her very first figure, which really isn’t that much of a surprise I suppose.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  White Rabbit is constructed from a pretty solid mix of old and new parts.  She’s got the jacket and arms from the Civil War Scarlet Witch figure, plus standard legs and feet, as well as all-new parts for the head, torso, and boots.  The new and old combine into a pretty faithful recreation of her comics design (with the patterning on Wanda’s jacket even serving as a solid approximation of the plaid pattern of White Rabbit’s jacket), and are just generally a pretty nice selection of parts.  I like the continued trend of slightly more dynamic head sculpts, especially as it applies to the hair on this figure.  She’s maybe a little bit restricted on the articulation front, especially at that mid torso joint, though, so her posing is a little more limited.  That said, while it’s restricted by Legends standards, she’s still quite poseable.  The paint work on White Rabbit is all pretty basic.  It’s cleanly applied, and matches with the comics color scheme, so it certainly gets the job done.  White Rabbit is packed with her umbrella, a blast effect for the front of it, and the glider and flight stand for the Demogoblin build-a-figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

White Rabbit is the sort of character that is right up my alley when it comes to these line-ups.  She’s relatively obscure, got a distinctive look, and cool gimmick.  I was definitely down for her when she was shown off.  In-hand, she can easily fade into the background of this particular line-up, but she does what she does well.

White Rabbit came from my sponsors at All Time Toys, and is still available here.  If you’re looking for Marvel Legends, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2321: Shang-Chi – Master of Kung Fu

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

SHANG-CHI — MASTER OF KUNG FU

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Shang-Chi is a master of martial arts and a warrior for justice.”

In the ’70s, Marvel was really trying to stay with the times and cash in on what was popular, expanding their comics into new, different horizons, including horror, Blaxploitation, and even kung fu.  Some of these things aged better than others, to be sure.  On the kung fu front, they had two prominent characters: Iron Fist and Shang-Chi.  Though Iron Fist would remain the more commonly known of the two, Shang-Chi has quite an interesting history, being one of a handful of Marvel characters with ties to characters outside of Marvel, since his backstory involved him being the son of Sax Rhomer’s early 20th Century villain Dr. Fu Manchu.  However, when Marvel lost the rights to Fu Manchu, they had to sort of muddy Shang-Chi’s backstory a bit in order to keep him as part of the mainstream universe.  He’s been something of a rising character in the last few years, and he’s slated for his own movie early next year.  Perfect time for an action figure, I’d say.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Shang-Chi is part of the Demogoblin Series of Marvel Legends.  Though the assortment is definitely Spider-themed, Shang-Chi follows in the footsteps of the likes of Moon Knight, being a loosely related character packaged in a box that has its own “Master of Kung Fu” branding.  This marks the first time Shang-Chi has been a Marvel Legend, and in fact only his second time getting an action figure; the first one was way back in the Toy Biz 5-inch days.  And he had to share a head with Northstar!  Poor guy!  Shang-Chi has has a number of appearances over the years, mostly centered around the same basic attire; this figure is based on a variant of his original look, sans his gi.  It helps to hammer home the general “this guy’s supposed to be Bruce Lee” nature of the character.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Like yesterday’s Ock figure, Shang-Chi is built on the 2099 body, which is a solid choice for the character as far as build and poseability are concerned.  He also gets a rather sizable helping of new parts to help sell the character, including a new head, belt, legs, and feet.  These new parts do a really nice job of not only meshing with the pre-existing parts, but also capturing Shang-Chi’s classic appearance.  I like how the head has a loose resemblance to Bruce Lee, while still being generic enough and stylized enough to fit in with the rest of the comic-based figures in the set.  I also appreciate that it’s not just Northstar’s head, because man would that be embarrassing if it happened twice to the same guy!  My biggest complaint about the figure’s new parts is admittedly something small and minor that unfortunately has some fairly large ramifications on the figure’s fun factor.  For whatever reason, Shang-Chi’s feet don’t have peg holes on the heels like…well pretty much every Legends release ever.  I don’t know if it’s an aesthetics thing or what, but it means that utilizing a third-party display stand to assist with the cool kung fu poses that this figure pretty much begs to be put into isn’t happening.  I *was* able to make due with one of the weird stands that Hasbro’s been packing in with the Black Series exclusives, but it’s not ideal, what with “Star Wars” being stamped on it and all.  I’m just really not sure why Hasbro opted to omit such a standard feature on a character that really needed it.  Shang-Chi’s paint work is fairly basic stuff, but it does what it’s supposed to.  It’s clean, and the color scheme isn’t quite as garish looking as it could have been.  The paintwork is nice and sharp, especially on the face.  Perhaps the best part of this figure by far is the accessory selection.  Following in the steps of the Allfather Series Iron Fist, Shang-Chi includes a whopping five different pairs of hands in all sorts of useful poses, as well two pairs of nun-chucks, and to top it all off, he still gets the torso of the Demogoblin build-a-figure.  That’s quite a package full of extras, and it certainly adds a lot of playability to the figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Shang-Chi is one of those characters that I’ve always been aware of, but never had a ton of attachment to (probably because of that goofy 5-inch figure), so he wasn’t exactly high on my want list for Legends.  That being said, it’s not like I was opposed to him getting a figure, especially if it’s a cool one.  Weird issue with the feet aside, this is a very, very cool figure, and offers up a lot of fun options.  I really enjoy the all-in approach on the accessories, and I hope that Hasbro continues this approach for such characters going forward.

Shang-Chi came from my sponsors at All Time Toys.  If you’re looking for Marvel Legends, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#2320: Superior Octopus

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

SUPERIOR OCTOPUS

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Otto Octavius suits up in a high-tech spider suit to protect the city as the Superior Octopus.”

Hey, remember when Doc Ock died and then put his mind into Peter Parker’s body and then took it over and then fought for dominance with Peter’s remaining subconscious and then ultimately relented his hold on the body so that Peter could take back over in order to defeat Green Goblin and save the day once again?  Well, that just turned out to be the set-up for the rest of Doc Ock’s story.  The events of Spider-Verse led a pre-giving-the-body-back-to-Peter Ock to create a back-up of his mind in the Living Brain, which he then used to reconstitute himself in a clone body that merged Octavious’ DNA with Parker’s during the events of “The Clone Conspiracy,” thereby leading to the creation of the Superior Octopus! Wooooooo!  Yay comics!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superior Octopus is figure 3 in the “Demogoblin” Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s sort of a two-fer figure figure, being both a high-profile Spider-Foe, and also kind of being a Spidey variant, which no doubt made him an easy sell for the assortment.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and has 42 points of articulation.  Ock is nominally built on the 2099 body, although it’s a slightly changed, slightly improved version of it, getting a retooled torso section.  It’s not wildly different from the standard pieces in terms of general sculpt and musculature, but in place of the previous ab-crunch joint, this one gets a ball-joint instead.  There’s some give and take on the range of motion on the respective joints, and it’s a little bit of a shame that Hasbro didn’t take advantage of this opportunity to go all out and do the joint combo they’ve been doing on their Lightning Collection figures, but on the whole, I do prefer this joint both in terms of poseability and aesthetics.  In addition to the tweaked base body, Ock also gets a new character specific head, hands, wrist bands, and back-pack with the tentacles that give him his namesake.  The new head and hands match the source material nicely, and also meld well with the pre-existing parts.  It’s again a bit of a shame that he just has the one set of hands, but the combo here works well enough.  The tentacles are handled in pretty much the same way as the last Ock, being solid pre-posed pieces with joints at the base and the claw.  The slightly thinner nature of them does make them a little more workable and less obstructive when posing him, and by and large, I like them a lot more than the standard Ock pieces.  The paint work on Ock matches up well with the comics design, and I certainly like the color scheme here. That bright green just really pops on this figure, especially in contrast to the otherwise monochrome colors.  Ock doesn’t get any of his own extras beyond the tentacles, but he does include both arms for the Demogoblin build-a-figure, who I’ll be taking a look at later in the week.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Superior Ock is one of those designs that was really just begging for toy treatment from the moment it was introduced, so I was neither surprised, nor upset when it was shown off for this line-up.  Honestly, it was probably one of the figures I was most looking forward to from this assortment.  There’s not a ton of new or different going on, but he’s a good example of slight tweaks to an already successful formula working out well for the final product.  Now, I really wouldn’t mind an updated Superior Spidey to match this one in terms of quality.

I purchased Superior Ock from my friends at All Time Toys.  If you’re looking for other cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay Store.