Category Archives: Reviews

#3855: The Demon

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

THE DEMON

OTHER WORLDS (DC DIRECT)

If you look closely, dear readers, you may detect, a preference on Tuesdays for DC Direct.  In particular, characters on the supernatural side, who’s offerings in the company’s early days were indeed quite wide.  Etrigan the Demon was introduced in 1972, by Jack Kirby, who wrote him, as well as drew.  Others have since followed on Kirby’s work, and crafted a character full of quirk.  One particular quirk he keeps almost all of the time, is a propensity to speak his words in rhyme.  I’ll be doing the same for this review, because I suppose I’m rather quirky, too.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Demon, who here’s not called Etrigan, completes the Other Worlds set that Hal Spectre began.  He’s the last in the series, following the last two, and this is where he made his figure debut.  The figure possesses just over 5 inches in height, because his sculpted hunch brings his total down a might.  He moves in 11 different places, but that movement’s restricted in most of those cases.  His sculpt’s quite pre-posed, but don’t be a grouch, it’s so he can have his signature crouch.  It’s true indeed, I have to be fair, that it gives the character a dynamic flair.  The joints are unfortunately quite prone to breaking, something that sucks, there’s no mistaking.  On mine, in particular, I’ve to to make do, with loosing both knees and an elbow too.  They do at least hold in place tight, so that the figure can still look alright.  The sculpt is unique, and quite impressive, it’s remarkable how they’ve made it so expressive.  It’s quite fun and to the character true, so it seems they really knew what to do.  The cloth cape is something I really enjoy, as that’s something that can be iffy on a toy.  Thankfully the material is quite thick, making its choice a solid pick.  Speaking of thick, it also describes the paint, and these days, I suppose it’s a little quaint.  The colors work well, at the very least, making him a quite bold little beast.  The application is also fairly clean, so at this time I don’t have to be mean.  The Demon doesn’t get to accessorize, which owes to his bulkier build, I’d theorize.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

To my collection, the Demon I did add, with the assistance of my supportive dad.  He wasn’t in any way the only one, as I got him with Hal back in 2001 (I should specify I mean the one that was Spectre, not the one from the movie with Kubrick as director).  Demon had just appeared on the Batman show, which had made him a character of whom I’d know.  The timing was good for him getting this toy, and it was certainly one that a young me did enjoy.  Other Etrigans have been released since, ranging best to worst, but none have displaced this one that’s the first.

#3854: Cyclops

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

CYCLOPS

X-MEN ’97 (MONDO)

Are you guys ready for a super crazy radical shift in how reviews go around here? …Well, I hope not, because that’s not really happening. I mean, sure, in contrast to the last several weeks of ’90s Toy Biz reviews, I’m instead doing something totally different. Okay, not totally different. It’s still Marvel. And while it’s not actually *from* the ’90s, it’s certainly ’90s inspired. Mondo, who I haven’t actually discussed here, is a company that didn’t *start* with toys, but they’ve moved into them, and they’re offerings have a lot of ’90s coverage, which undoubtedly has some overlap with my interests. They started doing 1/6 scale figures based on X-Men: The Animated Series a few years ago, and are slowly working their way through not just the main cast, but also a number of supporting players. And last year, in the midst of all that awesome X-Men ’97 hype, they did a Cyclops, which I’m looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyclops is figure 1 in the X-Men ’97 line from Mondo. It’s an interesting choice, since they haven’t yet finished up the main run of their Animated line and, well, he’s also very clearly an original series Cyclops. Sure, the box uses the ’97 logo, and the main image is the ’97, but all of the storyboard images are from the original show, and he’s clearly based on the original design sheet. He’s clearly a figure intended for the first line refitted for a quick tie-in with the newer show. Not that I’m complaining either way.  There were two releases of the figure: the standard, and a deluxe version that was a timed exclusive available directly through Mondo’s store.  The core figure remains the same for both versions. The figure stands just over 12 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  Unlike a lot of 1/6 figures, the Mondo animated figures are fully sculpted, with an articulation scheme not unlike a Marvel Legend.  The range of motion is okay in some spots, but rather restricted in some others.  The hips and shoulders in particular are rather stiff, but you can work with them if you’re patient.  The sculpt, handled by Alex Brewer, is a unique offering, and it’s a pretty solid match for the animation design.  It’s clean, and the head in particular really looks the part.  I especially like how sharply defined the hair and its flippy ’90s goodness.  The only thing I’m not crazy about is how the shoulder harness hovers.  It’s a frequent issue with this design, and it’s one of the quirks of maintaining an okay range of motion on the torso.  Cyclops’ paint work (laid out by Tomasz Rozejowski) goes for the cel-shading angle.  It’s always a tricky prospect, but I think they actually did a respectable job of making it work, even in three dimensions.  As it stands, it gives the sculpt an impressive extra bit of pop.  The standard release of Cyclops includes an alternate head with a screaming expression, two alternate visors (one for optic blasts, and the other with a flare effect attached), two different optic blast attachments, 9 different hands (in fists, open gesture, pointing, two fingers extended, and a right gripping hand), and a cup of coffee.  It’s a solid, basic assortment of parts.  The deluxe version also added an extra optic blast, a head without the head gear, a pair of sunglasses, an alternate Sentinel-style head, and a jacket and extra arms and hands for his bomber jacket look.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Back when this figure was shown off, I totally wanted…specifically the deluxe version.  He had all the extras I wanted, and I was all game to jump on and get him when he dropped.  And then…well, a stomach bug tore its way through my household, and I totally missed the drop dealing with that, so I didn’t get the exclusive.  I was bummed, and thought about getting the standard, but I lost my initiative, and it just didn’t happen.  That is, until this guy got traded into All Time, giving me the opportunity to see him in person.  Even without the extras, he felt worth it.  I’d still love to get the deluxe one, if I could, but for now, this guy’s still pretty awesome.

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.

#3853: Boba Fett – Deluxe

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

BOBA FETT with WING-BLAST ROCKET PACK and OVERHEAD CANNON

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“As a result of Luke Skywalker’s daring rescue of Han Solo from the clutches of Jabba the Hutt, Boba Fett was thrust into the Great Pit of Carkoon and presumed to be a victim of the dreaded Sarlacc. Sometimes later, the notorious bounty hunter was spotted on Nar Shaddaa with a menacing-looking weapons pack. Several rumors have been spread concerning his recent escape and present situation, the most prevalent one being that the Hutts have contracted him to capture Han Solo and Princess Leia alive for the death of Jabba.

A weapons master, Boba Fett has a veritable arsenal hidden throughout his Mandalorian armor. His new pack is reported to possess powerful turbo thrusters that provide prolonged atmospheric flight up to 500km per hour. Shielded battlewings open to reveal missile racks loaded with concussion rockets, while heavy-rotating blasters, similar to those mounted on Jabba’s sail barge, respond to optically-activated signals in the helmet. Certainly the deadliest feature of this device/vehicle is the bolstered proton torpedo launcher. It is estimated that this pack was designed and built by Boba Fett himself: besides that fact that not one of its kind has ever been seen before, the type and variety of its weaponry – few other than Fett would dare carry a proton torpedo on his back – suggest that this battle machine be a signature model of the galaxy’s most notorious bounty hunter.”

You know, I gotta say, I do love it when Kenner would get real wordy with the bios on the back of their figures.  These days, Star Wars figures are lucky to get maybe two sentences to themselves, but here’s this wacky variant Boba Fett that’s out here getting an entire post-RotJ storyline.  There’s two whole paragraphs!  That’s dope!  Also, it makes my intro easier, because look how many *words* there are.  Anyway, a while back, I looked at three of the four debut “Deluxe” figures from Power of the Force, which marked a rare instance of Kenner pushing their usual “toyetic” approach on Star Wars, but I never rounded out the set.  So, let’s do that now!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Boba Fett with Wing-Blast Rocketpack and Overhead Cannon (which, yes, is his official name) was part of the first year of Deluxe figures from Kenner’s Star Wars: Power of the Force line in 1996.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  Like the other three figures from the first year, Boba is effectively a tweaked version of the Series 1 Boba, but now with a big accessory you can strap onto him.  The core figure is sort of a merging of the standard and Shadows Boba molds, but also with a more neutral stance, which also makes him just the slightest bit taller.  Beyond that, it’s more or less the same figure, with more or less the same design elements.  It’s not terrible, but it’s also a little removed from accurate.  His color work follows the Series 1 set-up, putting him in specifically his Return of the Jedi colors, which, given the way the bio goes, makes a degree of sense.  It was also the look being most pushed by the multi-media side at the time, so that also makes him the most evergreen look, I suppose.  His main change-up is the inclusion of the “Wing-Blast Rocketpack and Overhead Cannon,” which replaces his usual, more modest jet-pack.  It’s really big, and it makes him rather unstable, but I guess it’s…like, fun?  Is that allowed?  Are Star Wars figures allowed to be fun?  Eh, I’ll allow it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When I was a kid, I wasn’t much of a Fett guy myself, but my cousin Rusty was.  With that in mind, I bought him one of these for his birthday the year they came out, but, unfortunately, someone else had done the same.  He told me I should open it, and it was his birthday, so I did.  And since I’d opened it and it couldn’t be returned for another gift, I ended up keeping it.  Well, just the core figure.  I never had the backpack.  And, honestly, I didn’t have the core figure for long either, as I lost him somewhere along the way.  The one here in the review is the result of quite a hunt.  See, I found the figure and the backpack with ease, but the launcher and the missile seem to be the one thing that goes missing every time. At one point, I even got my hands on a sealed one, and that one was somehow missing the missile and launcher *in the package.*  As you can see, though, I did eventually find a complete one.  He’s goofy and silly, but he’s neat.

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.

#3852: Hudson

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

HUDSON

ALIENS REACTION FIGURES (SUPER 7)

I brought up last week that I had missed out on Alien Day, what with it being on a Saturday and all this year.   The thing is, I didn’t just have the one displaced figure.  No, there’s more.  And, sure, I could hold off on reviewing them, pick it up with the next Alien Day not on a weekend, but I’m not patient like that.  So, anyway, here’s more Aliens stuff!  This time around, we’re back to the Colonial Marines, specifically the guy with a keen knowledge of whether the game is over or not, Private William Hudson!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hudson is part of the only series of Super 7’s Aliens ReAction Figures line.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Despite the relative similarities of Hicks and Hudson’s designs the two figures actually don’t share any parts, which is quite a surprise.  In an effort to further differentiate the two, Hudson gets a couple of design changes from his movie look, most notably ditching the shin guard armor, instead getting more basic lace up boots and a different pair of knee pads.  It seems to more closely mimic the different armor set-up of the smart gunners.  I don’t know *why* that’s the way they went, but it works okay with the style.  His head sculpt notably does a pretty respectable job of capturing the general Bill Paxton likeness, which is honestly pretty cool.  Hudson’s paint work is very similar to Hicks, with the expected changes for the design change-ups, as well as the updated customizations on his armor, which is pretty cool.  Hudson is packed with his helmet (which is a slightly different mold than Hicks, allowing it so sit a little tighter), as well as a pulse rifle.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My main focus in the set was getting the four surviving members of the crew, but I’ll admit, I have a hard time passing up a Hudson figure.  I sure do have a soft spot for the guy, so when the opportunity to round out my set landed in front of me, it’s not like I took much convincing.  Hudson’s similar to Hicks in style, but different in execution, making for a surprisingly effective figure.

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.

#3851: Deadman

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

DEADMAN

OTHER WORLDS (DC DIRECT)

The early days of DC Direct provided focus on some up to then overlooked characters, all held together by some pretty nifty themes.  There was a particular focus on the supernatural side of things in those early years, which featured the first chance at action figure coverage for Boston Brand, better known as Deadman!  So, let’s look at that very first Deadman figure today, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Deadman is the second figure in DC Direct’s Other Worlds series, released in June 2001.  Where Hal Jordan as the Spectre was a very recent addition in the comics at the time, Deadman was actually the oldest of the three characters featured in the line-up.  The figure stands just under 7 inches tall and he has 15 points of articulation.  Deadman is notably on the larger side for the character, given DCD’s relative scaling at the time.  He, coupled with the Martian Manhunter released right around the same time, shows the beginnings of the size creep that would plague DCD to the very end.  The plus side is, I guess, that he fits in well with later figures?  His sculpt is rather on the stylized side of things, with a fair bit of pre-posing.  He does get a decent amount of posability, though, especially for the era of figure from DCD.  Of course, said joints are quite prone to breakage, as is very much true to this era of DCD.  On my figure, his right shoulder’s actually split, so there’s that.  The paint work on Deadman’s basic, but generally works.  Like Spectre, he’s glow-in-the-dark, but *unlike* Hal, he’s painted with glow-in-the-dark paint.  It’s a little closer to actual white when not glowing, and it holds a glow better, which is nice.  It is, however, more prone to scratching and scuffing, which can be a bit frustrating.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Deadman’s the only one of these I didn’t get at release, largely because my Dad got that one, and we only got the one set.  The one seen here, I got later, actually courtesy of All Time Toys, almost a decade before my sponsorship, when they were still at their very first location.  He’s actually a pretty good start for the character, and I’d hasten to say that I don’t really think the classic Deadman design’s been done better justice than this one.

#3850: X-Man

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

X-MAN

MARVEL’S MOST WANTED (TOY BIZ)

“Nate Grey is a stranger in a strange world. He’s a survivor of the Age of Apocalypse – a world like ours, but one where the evil mutant Apocalypse ruled supreme. Now, after that world’s ruin, Nate finds himself on our Earth, struggling to save it from a similar destiny. Genetically engineered to be the most powerful psi-talent ever, Nate’s discovered that the psychic strain may be too much for his body to handle. Nate has also found that he bears a striking resemblance to the future warrior known as X-Man Cable…”

By-and-large, the sweeping changes made by the “Age of Apocalypse” crossover were swept back to other way when the even ended, reverting the main cast of characters back to their mainstream counterparts without much fuss.  But, what of the characters who didn’t have a counterpart?  Well, a small handful of them actually got to stick around, at least for a little bit.  Nate Grey, aka X-Man, was *technically* the equal number to Cable, but with a different backstory and direct lineage, as well as a quite different ultimate outcome in terms of character, he got kept around for a bit past the event’s wrap-up.  That wound up being extra fortunate, because it *also* gave him extra time to get some toy coverage!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

X-Man is the third and final figure in Toy Biz’s 1998 Marvel’s Most Wanted line.  Its an odd line-up for the name it was given.  At the time, Nate was the closest you’d get to a “heavy hitter” since he was headlining his own book (Blink would later headline Exiles, elevating her personal status a bit, at the same time that Nate was on the downswing; Spat pretty much never got time in the spotlight).  In his solo book, Nate was constantly changing out his attire, generally keeping just a general feel of look, so to go with something more directly marketable, this figure goes back to his original AoA look, which, to be fair, he also sported for a bit in the main 616.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  He was honestly pretty solid on the movement front, but contains an interesting design oddity.  His shoulder joints consist of a mix of swivel and ball-joint assembly, with the ball joint pegging into a swivel joint on the main torso.  Said swivel is ultimately redundant, since the ball joint can turn just fine on its own.  Why is it like that?  I don’t know.  The sculpt here is one of the more stylized of the Toy Biz run, though that was kind of true in general for this particular set.  He’s a bit pre-posed, with an odd sort of twist to the body, and he ultimately looks quite a bit elongated, especially the head.  It does end up feeling pretty true to the character, though, so I can’t really knock it.  X-Man’s paint work is generally basic; the suit consists of molded blue and painted yellow.  Application’s all pretty clean, so no issues there.  He’s packed with a rather involved display stand, presumably meant to replicate his psychic powers.  It was one Toy Biz liked a lot; it wound up re-used for Astral Doctor Strange and the Marvel Legends Human Torch.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

X-Man is the only one of this set I had as a kid.  I was at Toys “R” Us with my dad, and it was either him or Red Skull.  I only *sort of* knew him from a team-up I’d read with Spider-Man, but I’ve always been more a heroes guy than a villains guy, so X-Man it was.  In retrospect, choosing him over the Nazi does feel like the obvious choice, right?  X-Man actually got a bit of service as some non-X-Man characters, serving as the Rick Jones to my Avengers for a while, and also as a stand-in for Kid Action/Action Boy alongside my Toy Biz M. Bison, who was my go-to for Captain Action.  Look, sometimes my figure options didn’t always match up with the stories my mind needed to tell, okay? Ultimately, he’s still my favorite of the three figures, though it’s certainly nice to have him alongside the other two after all of these years.

#3849: Kabe & Muftak

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

KABE & MUFTAK

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE (KENNER)

The ’90s run of Power of the Force has a pretty impressive depth to it, making it the first really notable example of getting a bunch of figures based on all the blin-and-you’ll-miss-them aliens that appear in the original trilogy.  Obviously, it was just sort of the tip of the iceberg in terms of what Hasbro would do as the line expanded, but there are still a number of characters who got their first figures under PotF and haven’t yet gotten a follow-up.  Today’s entry, which focuses on two patrons of the Mos Eisley cantina, is kind of in line with that.  So, let’s look at Kabe and Muftak.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Kabe and Muftak were an online-exclusive Star Wars: Power of the Force release, made available on Hasbro’s direct shop in 1998.

Kabe here is the smaller of the two included figures, putting her somewhere in the area of Jawa sizing in terms of scale. She’s technically the more fortunate of the two figures, having gotten a second figure after this one (though that one was really just a minor repaint of this one).  The figure stands 2 1/2 inches tall and she has 4 points of articulation.  Since she’s got that long robe over the legs, she get no movement there, with movement ending at the waist.  It does at least make her a rather stable figure.  Her sculpt is fine.  It’s a little rough, for sure.  A lot of the Power of the Force figures are somewhat dated looking, but still look finalized, but Kabe is…well, she feels a little bit unfinished.  I think it may be partly to do with the available reference material, or rather the lack of it, since she’s not exactly a highly visible character.  But, it’s at leas rather unique, so I guess there’s that.  The vest is a separate piece, so you can remove it for a bit more customizability, and perhaps give it to another smaller creature?  I do rather like her paint work, which adds quite a bit of accenting, and really helps to offset the more unfinished nature of the sculpt.  Kabe is packed with a sci-fi knife thingy.

Muftak is the one-and-done of the set (though the sculpt was re-used in the Saga Collection line for Foul Moudama, from Clone Wars), so there’s more riding on this one?  Also he’s a lot larger.  The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation.  He’s very tall, but not very posable.  But, he’s also a bit pre-posed.  So there’s that.  I do like that one elbow swivel he’s got.  He’s sporting an at the time unique sculpt.  It’s actually quite a nice sculpt.  The fur detailing is solid, showing a better flow than most of the Chewbaccas from the line, and his generally unique look is sold rather well.  He’s also just nice and solid-feeling, and stands really well on his own.  Just a lot of wins there.  The paint’s not bad.  There’s same accenting and shading on the fur, which is perhaps a touch heavy in some spots, but overall works quite well.  Muftak is packed with a larger blaster pistol, which he can rather awkwardly hold in his left hand, if you’re so inclined.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m firmly in the group of people that would probably have no clue these characters even existed were it not for the figures.  And, also the decision to go completist on this line.  The web exclusives can be a bit spotty on ease of access, mostly because so many people ignored them for so long.  They’re not expensive, but they’re rarer to show up.  I snagged these two, loose, from a sizable Star Wars collection traded into All Time a couple of years ago.  Kabe’s nothing much to write home about, but Muftak’s honestly pretty cool.

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.

#3848: Newt

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

NEWT

ALIENS: REACTION (SUPER 7)

Even though Aliens may be my favorite movie, I find myself running out of things to get from the movie in terms of merchandise because, well, how much can you buy, right?  So, I missed last year’s Alien Day.  This year, though I totally had stuff to review! …Too bad it fell on a Saturday, and I’m not doing Saturday reviews anymore.  Guess that stuff’s getting reviewed on a not Alien Day day.  Which, it just so happens, is today!  I’m picking up on a thread I started back in 2022, when I started looking at Super 7’s Aliens ReAction figures.  Thus far, I’ve looked at Hicks, Bishop, and Ripley.  Now, I’m looking at the last piece of the film’s survivor part, Rebecca “Newt” Jorden!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Newt is part of the one and only series of Super 7’s Aliens: ReAction line.  The figure stands 3 inches tall and she has 5 points of articulation.  In terms of looks in the movie, Newt’s got the two: pre-disheveled and post disheveled.  This one’s aim seems to be the second, but it winds up splitting the difference a bit.  It’s partially a stylistic thing, I think, since the retro figure look is usually a bit cleaned up.  She’s got the torn knees on the pants legs, but also still has both straps connected on the overalls, which she doesn’t in the movie.  Her hair also more nicely parted than the later film look.  But, generally speaking, it does a good job of dialing into her defining look, so you can tell who she’s meant to be, even without the context of the other characters.  Her color work is more basic and pitched to a more saturated level then seen in the movie, which means she matches up well with the other figures in the set.  Newt is packed with the most sensible accessory possible for her: the head of her doll, Cassie.  It’s got a little tuft of hair sticking out, so she can hold it in her hand, which she does pretty securely.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set is one of those ones that I wanted to finish, but also I have put virtually no actual effort into finishing.  That hasn’t changed, for what it’s worth.  The first two landed in front of me, and the Ripley a couple of months later.  It’s been a longer stretch of time, but a full loose set got traded into All Time a couple of months ago, meaning I had the chance to snag the ones I didn’t already have.  Newt was at the top of the list for me, so I was definitely glad she was in there.  Now I’ve got my little pseudo family all complete, and that’s honestly pretty cool.

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.

#3847: Spectre – Hal Jordan

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

SPECTRE — HAL JORDAN

OTHER WORLDS (DC DIRECT)

As I anxiously await having more Super Powers to review, I’m going to be getting my DC fix by taking a dive into my back catalogue of DC figures from years gone by.  In the late ’90s/early ’00s, DC Direct started making a splash in the DC toy world by offering up figures of the non-Batman and Superman denizens of the DC universe, especially giving focus to the weirder element of things.  In 1999, after a redemptive death as Parallax, Hal Jordan was chosen as the new host for The Spectre, DC’s spirit of vengeance.  For about 6 years, that was Hal’s main bit, and during that period, he managed to get an action figure of him in the role, courtesy of those oddballs over at DC!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spectre — Hal Jordan was released in DC Direct’s Other Worlds line-up, which hit in June of 2001.  A roughly year and a half turnaround time was actually quite quick for such a line, so that was quite a cool bit for Hal.  This was Hal’s second figure under DCD, following up on his Hard Traveling Heroes release from the year prior.  It is, to date, the only figure of Hal from his time as the Spectre.  The figure stands just under 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  Hal’s presence in this set owes to two things: firstly, the Jim Corrigan version of Spectre had been released the year prior, so they needed a different one for this spirit-based line-up, and secondly they needed a parts re-use heavy figure to offset costs.  As such, he’s an almost complete re-use of the Hard Traveling Heroes Hal.  Given that Hal’s Spectre design intentionally referenced his GL design, it’s far from the worst choice.  It helps that it’s just a pretty strong sculpt in the first place, and really holds up as one of DCD’s best from their early days.  It’s not terribly posable, I suppose (the v-hips in particular are tricky to work with), but it’s got a good balance to the proportions and there’s a cool Neal Adams vibe to it that’s just always super cool.  The only new sculpted part is the left lower arm, which is now an open gesture, rather than a grip.  What’s interesting is that they chose to replace his left hand, not his right, meaning the figure still has a sculpted right on his right hand, which is kind of funny.  It’s all topped off with a cloth cloak piece, which is a really nice piece, with an inner lining, and a wire on the edge for posing.  Hal’s color work is generally basic, but by far the coolest thing about it is the glow-in-the-dark plastic used for the bulk of it.  I’m a real sucker for glow-in-the-dark stuff.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Hasbro 9-inch Hal was my first Hal Jordan figure in general, but this one was my first Hal in a more conventional scale.  My dad had a friend who worked at Diamond, and he would get us DC Direct figures, and my dad made sure he ordered me this one.  Even though he wasn’t a GL, this guy got a ton of play time as my primary Hal Jordan.  The fact that he has a generally green palette allowed me to fudge things a bit as to which identity he was using.  I remember in particular him accompanying me to our attempt to go see the Fourth of July fireworks in 2001, which got rained out, and holding him up to the window as we passed road lights trying to get his glow feature to charge.  He remains one of my favorites to this day.  Looking back on him, I’m still impressed by just how good a sculpt he’s got, and it’s neat that we got this look at all, given how scarce it’s become overall.

#3846: Spat & Grovel

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

SPAT & GROVEL

MARVEL’S MOST WANTED (MANUFACTURER)

Last week, I wrapped up my reviews of the Toy Biz X-Men Savage Land series, looking at Joseph, a very dialed into the moment character at the time of his release.  So, today, let’s dial in even further!  In the 1997 storyline that sent a portion of the X-Men to the Savage Land (which I referenced in my Joseph review), Gambit is set upon by Spat, a bounty hunter who has a past with him.  Spat and her bestial partner Grovel are more or less a footnote in the X-Men’s history, but they have the fun little side-bit of being designed by creators Scott Lobdell and Joe Madureira specifically to be too weird to make for a good transition to toy form (something most X-characters where doing at that point).  So, they made them a woman aging in reverse and a weird space lizard.  And, of course, they had their own action figures in less than a year, because of course they did.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spat & Grovel were released in the 1998 Marvel’s Most Wanted series from Toy Biz.  It’s…well, it’s certainly a bold name for a series that included Spat & Grovel…or really any of the figure’s from it.  But, there it was.  These two are certainly the most obscure of the three offerings, hence this also being the only time they’ve shown up as action figures.

Spat’s really the main figure here, with Grovel being kind of an accessory, much in the same way as the Savage Land sets handled their figure and creature set-ups.  The figure is about 2 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Given her smaller stature, she just moves at the basic five, and even then, the hips are v-hips, so the end result is a figure that really doesn’t move all that much.  She’s really just a stand-er.  The sculpt does an okay job of capturing Madureira’s drawings of the character, with his slightly more cartoonish proportions and stylings all pretty well present.  The head admittedly looks a bit too much like a full-grown woman’s head, on a very small body.  That being said, it’s not a terrible offering.  I do like the flow on the headband, though, as well as the texturing on the fur of her outfit.  Spat’s paint work is pretty solid.  Both the hair and outfit get some accenting work to help sell the sculpted details as well.  Spat is packed with a spear with a chain on the end of it, which she holds nicely in her left hand.

Grovel’s a big space lizard, and that’s what this figure aims to be.  He’s a big, chunky thing, a fair bit larger than Spat.  Exactly *how* much larger than Spat he’s supposed to be varied a bit in the comics, so the figure just goes for demonstrably larger, and makes it work.  He’s got base movement at the top of each leg, and the tail can twist, so there’s some slight variation in play.  He’s also got a mouth opening action feature; pushing down the front-most fins opens the mouth up a fair bit.  He’s got some cool patterning for the paint work, which is pretty fun to look at, and generally sells the whole “giant space lizard” bit rather well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, I had literally no clue who Spat and Grovel were, and they were new, so my dad, who was my primary source of information on “who these guys were,” didn’t know either, so I kind of just missed out on them.  As such, they were the last of this particular set I picked up, actually just a few weeks ago.  I’ve been on a real Toy Biz kick, largely because I’m finally trying to actually put them out on display, and I put the other two from this set out and figured it might be a good time to finally finish the set.  They’re a rather goofy pair of characters, and not so much toy-friendly, but at the same time, I don’t think they’re un-toy-friendly either.  And, it’s not like there’s ever going to be another version of this pair, so they’ve got that particular novelty, if nothing else.