Category Archives: Reviews

#2201: Red Hood

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

RED HOOD

DC ESSENTIALS (DC COLLECTIBLES)

“The vigilante outlaw who was once a Robin, the man under the hood is extremely proficient in both weapons and hand-to-hand combat.”

Originally conceived as a potential former alias for the man that would eventually become the Joker, the monicker of Red Hood is one that’s been passed around a little bit, but ultimately it’s stuck a pretty darn long time with the un-deceased Jason Todd.  I suppose there’s something poetic about one of the Joker’s victims laying claim to his old name.  Despite being well-established in the role for a good long time now, as well as being introduced in a rather well-known modern era Batman story, Jason’s comics version of his Red Hood gear has been surprisingly absent from toys, or at least was for the first decade of his existence.  There was a New 52 figure which kind of worked in a pinch, but it wasn’t until just this year that we got a whole two Jason Red Hoods, one from DCC, and the other from Mattel.  Today, I’m taking a look at DC Collectibles’ version!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Red Hood is figure 18 in DCC’s DC Essentials line.  After doing a fair bit of retreading, Red Hood is finally a taste of more new stuff…though it looks like we’re going back to the retreading after this.  Oh, DCC, how predictible of you.  This figure represents Jason in the biker-styled Red Hood gear, though it’s not quite his first appearance attire.  Instead, he’s technically the most modern take on the design, from the post New 52/Rebirth era.  It’s a little more costume-y than the original look, but also has lost some of the over-designed elements that the initial New 52 stuff brought about, making for an overall pretty clean looking design for the character.  The figure 7 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  The Essentials line has been fairly heavy on the re-use side, but Red Hood actually does inject a fair number of new pieces into it.  He uses the torso, pelvis, and upper legs of the standard male body, but gets an all-new head, arms, hands, shins, and feet, as well as add-ons for his jacket and belt/holsters.  The new pieces really work out in this figure’s favor.  The head, is definitely sleek and very cool, living up to the really solid heads we’ve gotten so far from the line.   The new arms are great because, in addition to adding the coat sleeves, they are also ever so slightly shorter than the standard arms, thereby fixing the monkey arms problem of prior figures.  The jacket add-on also hides those exposed pegs on the torso joint, fixing my other major complaint.  As a whole, the new parts really sell this figure as his own figure, rather than leaving him really tied to the rest of the Essentials line like the prior figures have been.  The paint work on Red Hood is also really strong, with the metallic red on the helmet being my favorite aspect by far.  The rest of the application is actually cleanly handled, and lacks the fuzzy edges that a lot of DCC stuff sports.  Red Hood is packed with a pair of pistols (which can actually be removed from the holsters and held, giving him a leg up on the Mattel release), as well as two sets of hands in both gripping and fist poses.  It’s nice to see the extra hands cropping up again, as the lack of them with the earliest figures was a real drag.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Red Hood was something of an impulse buy, truth be told.  He came in at Cosmic Comix, and I just really, really liked the look of him on the shelf, so I just ended up grabbing him.  I actually haven’t done that with a single Essentials figure since Reverse Flash, and I wasn’t sure it was going to pay off.  Then I opened the figure up, and oh boy did it.  Essentials has been really spotty for it’s run, but Red Hood is genuinely a solid figure, and by far the best figure this line’s put out.  I’d say here’s to hoping for more like him, but unfortunately DCC’s just shown off a bunch of stuff that goes firmly the other direction…alas.

#2200: Shrikethorn

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

SHRIKETHORN

PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING — SOVI SPIRITS (BANDAI)

Though not the smash critical success of its predecessor, Pacific Rim: Uprising was if nothing else a nice run through the world of the original, even if under some slightly different confines.  Had Pacific Rim been made in the ’70s, Uprising would have no doubt made a solid pilot movie for the inevitable TV adaptation.  It also did wonders for the very strong collectibles market associated with the franchise, giving us a whole new pool of Jaegers and Kaiju to give cool new toys.  Back around the movie’s release, I looked at a bunch of the Jeagers, but never did get around to looking at any of the Kaiju.  Let’s switch that up today, with a look at one of the three final battle Kaiju, Shrikethorn!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Shrikethorn was part of Bandai’s Sofvi Spirits line, as one of three Uprising-themed figures in the line.  The Jaegers were covered by the more conventional action figure stylings of the Robot Spirits line, but for the much larger designs of the various Kaiju, it’s not really quite as cost effective to produce solid, fully articulated figures.  So, these figures take a page out of the same book as the likes of the Ultra Hero 500 and Ultra Monster 500 lines, crafting the figure from a soft (and hollow) vinyl and cutting back on the articulation.  It makes for a much lighter, and slightly less detailed figure, but it also means that getting the Kaiju in the same scale as the Jeagers is attainable without dropping rather insane amounts of money.  The figure is about 6 inches tall (with a bit of a hunch, of course), about just as wide, and has 7 points of articulation.  The articulation’s really not meant for getting much variance of poses; it mostly is there to help add more balance when getting the figure standing.  For a big monstrous thing like Shrikethorn, it’s not really like there are going to be a ton of poses needed.  He’s good for looking rather menacingly at your Jeagers, which is kind of the main point here.  Being made from a softer material, his sculpt is understandably a little softer when compared to the likes of the Robot Spirits figures, and especially when compared to the NECA figures.  That said, all of the important details are there, capturing the broadstrokes idea of Shrikethorn’s design quite well.  Most importantly, they get the silhouette down, and that’s really were this figure’s success lies.  Shrikethorn’s paintwork is respectable enough for what it is.  Again, when compared to something like NECA, it’s a little soft, a little cartoony, and a little simplified, but the slightly more cartoony designs from Uprising do the figure some favors here, and the end result is a pretty solid offering.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since all of the Uprising stuff was hitting right as Toys R Us was going under, these guys showed up there at full price, quickly got discounted, and quickly disappeared.  I recall looking at Shrikethorn when he first hit, but just never got around to tracking one down.  So, where did this one come from?  Well, from my Super Awesome Fiancee Wife (yes, you read that right), of course!  She found him all alone in the clearance aisle of the Barnes & Noble right next to her new job, and decided to bring him home for me.  As a piece on his own, Shrikethorn is perhaps not the most impressive offering, but he’s a really fun accent piece to the Jeagers, and I’m honestly just happy to finally have one.

#2199: Morph

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

MORPH

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“Once a member of the uncanny X-Men, Morph sacrificed his life to save his teammates from the mutant-hunting Sentinels. Resurrected by the evil Mister Sinister and set against his one-time allies, Morph now uses his shape-shifting abilities in an attempt to put an end to his former friends!”

When launching X-Men: The Animated Series, the makers of the cartoon wanted to demonstrate the serious nature of the situations the team faced by presenting the audience with an ill-fated mission that would end with one member of the team killed in battle.  Of course, they weren’t exactly looking to throw out any of the highly profitable a-list characters in the initial starting line-up, meaning they needed to build a character specifically for the purpose of sacrificing.  Combing through the back catalog of X-Men characters, they came across Changeling, a rather minor foe-turned-teammate from the ’60s, who died in Xavier’s place at one point.  The character was updated and renamed “Morph” and boom, sacrificial offering for the TV gods.  What they didn’t count on, however, was the character being as popular in his debut appearance as he was, leading to a whole assortment of shenanigans to bring him back during the show’s second season, and enough prominence to get this boy an action figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Morph was released in Series 6 of the Toy Biz X-Men line, and is notable for being pretty much the only figure in the line to be completely based on the show.  Others were clearly using the show for inspiration of character and costume choice, but Morph was the one true instance of something only from the show making its way into the line.  Morph would also see a subsequent re-release not too long after the release of the X-Men movie in 2000, as part of a KB Toys-exclusive line of reissues and repaints.  The two releases are more or less identical, though the reissue his a slightly darker skintone.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation.  He’s honestly one of the most practical implementations of articulation this era of the line offered, with elbows, knees, and a waist joint.  None of those were strictly standard at this point.  His sculpt was an all-new affair, and is a pretty decent offering.  He remains faithful to the cartoon’s design while still adapting the character to better fit the design of toys as a whole.  For the purposes of Morph himself, there are two heads included: good Morph and evil Morph.  Both are conceivably the same guy, and capture the cartoon’s versions of the looks nicely, making him an easy match for his show appearances.  In terms of paint, Morph is pretty basic, but still pretty cleanly done.  The application is sharp, and the colors are all nice and eye-catching.  It’s worth noting that they changed his default hair from black to brown, presumably so that he would match Changeling in the comics (it’s also worth noting that the show would change his hair color to match in his later appearances).  In addition to his own extra head, Morph also included two additional heads to demonstrate his changing ability.  There’s a Wolverine and a Cyclops, which both work reasonably well in conjunction with the body to sell them as the “real” character, while still showing that there’s something a little off about them.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Morph was pretty much gone from shelves when I really started collecting, so my first figure of him was actually the ToyFare-exclusive AoA version.  I then picked up the KB Toys re-release when he came out, and I was always very fond of him, as I quite like the character.  That figure ended up going missing (along with a bunch of my other X-Men figures), and I eventually ended up replacing him with a proper Series 6 release.  Of course, then I found my original, so I’ve got them both again.  Cool!

#2198: Buzz-Off

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

BUZZ-OFF

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (MATTEL)

“Heroic Spy in the Sky!”

As a child of the decade post-80s (more commonly referred to as the ’90s, I suppose), I missed out on the initial run of a lot of the top ’80s toys.  Fortunately for me, there was something of an ’80s resurgence that began right around 2002, and it was this wave of psuedo-nostalgia which gave me my first proper taste of things such as G.I. Joe and Masters of the Universe.  For the Joes, it did eventually lead me to a proper appreciation for the true vintage stuff, but in the case of Masters, something about that early ’00s branch really stuck with me, thereby making it the 2002 line that I get nostalgic for, not the old ’80s stuff.  As a matter of fact, there are a good number of Masters characters whose vintage designs do nothing for me.  Good example?  Today’s figure, Buzz-Off!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Buzz-Off was added to the re-launched Masters of the Universe toyline in 2003, as part of the fifth assortment of heroic warriors in the line, alongside three He-Man variants, Ram-Man, Man-E-Faces, and Roboto.  The figure is roughly 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 17 points of articulation, thanks to the inclusion of ball-joints on the wings and little arms on his back.  That makes him one of this line’s most articulated figures.  The vintage Buzz-Off figure was designed to share parts with the villainous Whiplash.  I know, when I think of bees and reptiles, I see the similarities too.  For the 2002 relaunch, both characters got starkly divergent treatments, which was probably for the best on both counts.  While swollen and muscle bound was the only way to go for the vintage line, Buzz-Off’s recreation was now svelte and angular, easily one of the most slimmed down designs of this whole iteration of the brand.  It’s a quite unique look, and much like Roboto from the same assortment, it takes a much goofier design and makes it a little bit more palatable in the context of the wider story and the type of character than Buzz-Off is supposed to be.  When it came time to adapt the character to the new cartoon, Buzz-Off received a noticeably drab color scheme, drastically different from his old look.  For the figure proper, he more meets in the middle.  The basics of the old design are definitely still there, but he looks less like “wrestler in a bee” costume this time around.  Buzz-Off was packed with an axe (with launching, because that’s how axes work) and a pair of goggles for protecting his eyes while flying, I guess.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The thing about the 200x Masters line is that as cool as the redesigns were, and as much as I liked the look of the figures, they were our first real taste of how badly Mattel could screw up case packouts and distribution.  Remember how I mentioned the three He-Man variants in this set?  Well, they were heavier packed than the the three new heroes, and for Buzz-Off and Roboto in particular, that made them very, very hard to find when they were new.  No Buzz-Off for me.  In fact, since coming into that big GoodWill find several years ago, there have been just a few figures left to check off on my list of Masters I still really wanted.  Buzz-Off was at the top of that list.  Fortunately for me, All Time got in a whole bunch of 200x Masters figures a couple of months ago, and Buzz-Off was right there with them, meaning I was finally able to add him to my collection!

As touched on above, I picked this guy up from my friends All Time Toys.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay Store.

#2197: Cyclops

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

CYCLOPS

ONE:12 COLLECTIVE (MEZCO)

Cyclops sure does seem to be getting a good bit of love these days, with a headlining role in the latest X-Men relaunch, plus all sorts of toys.  I mean, he’s had no less than two Marvel Legends in one single year.  That’s a pretty big deal for him, especially after the less than stellar treatment he’s gotten for the better part of the last decade.  Riding in on the Cyclops-hype train as well is Mezco, who are finally expanding the X-Men portion of their One:12 Collective line to more than just variants of Wolverine, and adding both long-time foe Magneto and old-school leaderman Cyclops to the docket.  I’m an unabashed Cyclops fan, so it’s not much of a surprise who I’m looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyclops is a Fall 2019 release for Mezco’s One:12 Collective line.  He took his sweet time getting onto shelves, but he started arriving just within the last month.  This is the standard Cyclops offering, which depicts him in a ’90s Jim Lee-inspired get-up.  There’s also a more Cockrum/Byrne-inspired variant, which should be arriving at retail shortly.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has over 30 points of articulation.

Cyclops is another figure on the multiple heads band-wagon.  There are two included here, each with the same basic design, but each with a different expression.  The standard is the more classic calm Cyclops, fit for the more usual standing poses, while the alternate is sporting an intense scream, just right for all that…screaming that Cyclops is wont to do.  It means that you’ve got some decent options for posing, to be sure.  Both sculpts do a respectable job for capturing that classic Cyclops likeness.  While I’m still more partial to the Legends ’90 Cyclops head sculpt as a whole, I can definitely respect these heads for what they do, and there’s a more real world quality to them.  Both heads are designed to work with the light-up feature built into the body.  It’s not a super complex system or anything, but the battery is built into a compartment which is housed in the neck joint.  The ball-joint contains a small LED, the desired head pops onto the ball-joint, the switch on the housing is turned on, and the whole housing is slid back down into the main neck and turned to lock into place for posing.  It’s not a bad design, and it’s a rare light-up feature for a Cyclops that doesn’t completely hinder his neck joint.  However, I found the actual lighting to be a little unreliable and tempermental, making it difficult to keep it illuminated during posing.  I don’t know if this is just my figure or an across the board thing.

Cyclops is built on a smaller male body than a lot of the line, but it seems suitably sized to the character.  He’s a mixed-media affair, with a slightly rubberized jumpsuit, plus hard plastic add-ons for his belt/shoulder strap, wrist cuffs, leg straps, and boots.   There have been a few adjustments made to the design, such as removing the yellow shorts (which the classic-styled figure will be adding back), adding a proper collar, and adding some piping and panelling lines to the main body suit.  It’s really not terribly different from how they updated, say, Iron Man’s design, and is generally in pretty good keeping with the line’s stylings as a while.  It also keeps all of the major points for selling this as a Jim Lee Cyclops, so they seem to have done a pretty respectable job of boiling things down.

Cyclops has a decent selection of accessories included.  In addition to the previously mentioned extra head, he’s also got a selection of five extra visors to swap out between the two, which includes a few duplicates, presumably in case you accidentally lose one.  The “smoking eye” piece is great for subtle poses, and the two extremes of the blasts pair well with the two different expressions on the heads.  There are also three included pairs of hands in fists, open gesture, and a flat/visor operating pose combo.  He also includes the usual display stand, this time with a big ol’ X on it.  Lastly, and most impressively by my count, is the removable (faux) leather jacket, which is pretty much essential to completing a proper ’90s Cyclops, and was the only notable thing missing from Hasbro’s first release (although they’re going to be amending that very soon).  The accessories for Cyclops are definitely an improvement over the comparatively rather light Vigilante Daredevil figure, which is a pretty good thing, even if Cyclops technically retails for $10 more.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I waffled a lot on this figure, truth be told.  At it’s core, I love the idea, and honestly, I’m very happy with the execution.  The problem I run into with most of the One:12 stuff is the cost relative to other lines in the same scale, and I won’t lie that Hasbro’s announcement of the reissue of the Jim Lee Cyclops with an added jacket did knock this one down ever so slightly in my book.  I get *why* these figures are more expensive, but that doesn’t make it easy for me to justify.  And Cyclops even retails for $20 higher than the previous base price point on these figures, making him an even harder justification.  That said, when I saw this guy in person, he really spoke to me, and I decided that a good figure of Cyclops was the sort of thing I could invest in.  Well, I’m glad I did.  Despite being the most I’ve paid for a One:12 figure, I’d say this one’s the one I’m the most satisfied with at the end of the day.  He’s a very nice piece on his own, and I think stands apart enough from the likes of Legends to be worth the additional investment.

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.

#2196: Zorri Bliss

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

ZORRI BLISS

STAR WARS: THE VINTAGE COLLECTION (HASBRO)

In the ever-crowded, ever-growing cast of Star Wars characters, it can be a little tricky to focus on new, but it does seem like we get one new mysterious, shady, potential fan favorite character just about every time out.  Hey, when a character like Boba Fett sells as many toys as Boba Fett has sold, I guess there’s nothing wrong with trying to capture a little bit more of that lightning in a bottle.  Rise Of Skywalker‘s new masked character of intrigue is Zorri Bliss, played by a very covered up Keri Russell, who apparently has ties to our boy Poe.  Ties to Poe you say?  Well that’s a semi-decent way of getting me on board, I suppose.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Zorri Bliss is figure VC157 in the Vintage Collection line-up.  She’s yet another of the initial six figures available at launch, and the final figure I picked up from this particular assortment.  As of this time, Zorri is only available in the VC style, but I imagine a Black Series release will follow depending on how she’s received in the film.  The figure stands a little over 3 1/2 inches tall and has 27 points of articulation.  Zorri’s articulation really just serves to emphasize my problems with implementation in this line.  He upper half moves fine, but the hips are again mostly stationary, and the knees and ankles don’t offer her much movement either.  Of the four figures I picked up from this line-up, Zorri is definitely the least sure on her feet, and honestly I didn’t have much luck keeping her up without a stand of some sort.  If these guys included stands, that might be okay, but they don’t, which makes her quite a frustrating figure to mess with.  The sculpt is a decent enough offering, all things considered.  While it’s not as impressive as the Jet Trooper, there are still plenty of well-rendered details, and she appears to be fairly accurate to the source material, at least based on what we’ve seen of the character so far.  I will admit that when you put the figure into a basic standing pose and just admire the sculpt, it looks pretty impressive.  Zorri’s paintwork isn’t bad.  Not having a face probably helps her a bit here.  The application is mostly pretty clean, and there’s a halfway decent go at weathering on the helmet.  Zorri is packed with two revolver-looking blaster pistols, which can be held or stowed in her two holsters.  They’re fairly nice, rather unique pieces, and they definitely help her have a bit more of her own flair.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like yesterday’s Jet Trooper, I had not initially planned to buy Zorri, but when you buy one more, it’s easy to make that two more, I guess.  Plus, there’s that Poe connection, I suppose.  I’m an easy mark.  While I was fairly happy with the Jet Trooper, Zorri left me a little cold.  I like the design, and I don’t hate the figure, but there’s really nothing about her that makes me feel like she *needed* TVC treatment, and I ultimately feel like I might have been happier if she’d just been a nicely sculpted 5-POA figure instead.  Maybe I’ll feel better after movie?

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

#2195: Sith Jet Trooper

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

SITH JET TROOPER

STAR WARS: THE VINTAGE COLLECTION (HASBRO)

What’s a Star Wars movie without some fancy new army builders?  …I mean, seriously, what is it?  Has there ever been one?  I don’t believe so.  Unsurprisingly, Rise of Skywalker is following the well-established conventions of the movies and providing us with various assortments of new faceless goons to choose from.  Today’s is actually a double header, being not only one of the fancy new all-crimson-clad Sith Troopers, but also being based on a new specialization of trooper, the Jet Trooper.  Smash them together and, boom, Sith Jet Trooper!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Sith Jet Trooper is figure VC159 in the Vintage Collection line-up.  He’s part of the same six-figure line-up as Poe and Rey, and was one of the Triple-Force Friday launch figures.  He is one of two army builders in the assortment, with the other being the Knight of Ren.  He’s also one of three variations of the Jet Trooper available at launch, though so far the only one under the Sith Trooper heading.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 28 points of articulation. Compared to Rey, the Jet Trooper’s articulation is a little more practical, and certainly a little more resilient.  That said, the hips are still the weak point, and at least on my figure don’t end up adding a ton of posability.  On the flip side, I was actually quite impressed by the range of movement on the figure’s neck, so kudos to Hasbro on that.  Of all the figures in this assortment, the Jet Trooper’s articulation and design is definitely the best rendered.  He’s also got possibly the best sculpt of the bunch.  The fully armored appearance is certainly more forgiving to a highly articulated small-scale figure, and honestly they’ve managed to keep the detail work pretty sharp on him, making this the most technically impressive of the launch sculpts.   It’s also helped by having one of the more basic and straight forward paint apps for this line-up.  It’s really just red and black with just a little touch of yellow, so there’s not a whole lot to possibly mess up here.  It’s clean, and definitely striking in appearance.  The Jet Trooper is packed with two different styles of rifle, which is certainly nice for mixing things up if you do intend to army build.  I also appreciate that one can be holstered on his leg while he holds the other, meaning nothing needs the to be tossed into storage when this guy goes on the shelf.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My only early morning run Triple Force Friday purchases were Poe and Rey from this line, because I wasn’t sure I was totally on board with the switch over.  Then I got into All Time later that day and discovered a shipment had come in there, and that gave me a second chance to think about picking up a few of the figures, with the Jet Trooper at the top of that list.  Ultimately, I’m glad I gave him a second thought, because while I still am not completely on board with full time collecting for The Vintage Collection, I do feel like the Jet Trooper is the nicest showing of this bunch.

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

#2194: Rey

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

REY

STAR WARS: THE VINTAGE COLLECTION (HASBRO)

Since there’s no basic 3 3/4 inch line-up for the movie launch this time around, the small scale component of the Rise of Skywalker toys will be carried by the recently relaunched The Vintage Collection, an interesting prospect given that TVC has only recently started carrying more than one or two new figures per assortment.  It’s also prone to much more compact line-ups, meaning that our first offering of figures is nowhere near as comprehensive as what we’re used to.  In terms of the core cast for the Sequel Trilogy, the first line-up gives us a re-released Poe (reviewed yesterday) and main character Rey in her latest attire, which is the figure I’ll be taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Rey is figure VC156 in the Vintage Collection line-up.  She’s part of the six figure line-up launched at Triple Force Friday, and is one of five new figures in the line-up.  For Rise of Skywalker, there’s been some passage of time since The Last Jedi, so everyone looks to have picked up some fancy new togs.  Rey appears to still be aiming for an “on-brand” appearance, so the base elements from her three prior outfits are all still in the mix, but she’s definitely back to a brighter look following her slightly murkier look during TLJ.  I dig it, and I look forward to seeing it in action on the screen.  The figure stands a little under 3 3/4 inches tall and she has 28 points of articulation.  So, about all this extra articulation that’s supposed to be the main selling point of this style of line vs the 5-poa stuff?  Hasbro was getting the hang of things before halting TVC the first time, and they were also getting the hang of things when the did the Rogue One figures for Black Series, but beyond that, I frequently feel like this style of figure runs into “articulation for the sake of articulation” rather than “articulation for the figure’s benefit”.  The prime offender is pretty much always the hip joints.  While the design here is certainly better than the out of date set-up we saw on yesterday’s Poe, it’s still a very limited, very restricted joint, largely due to how small it has to be to not look super messy at this scale.  The trouble is, it’s enough movement to give the legs some budge, but enough to do a whole lot with that budge, so she’s a figure with hip joints that really just make her hard to keep standing.  Don’t get me wrong, she’s better than other offerings in this style, and probably in the top two for this particular assortment in terms of practical articulation, but she’s still not as posable as a 6-inch figure, nor as sturdy as a 5-POA figure.  Even the sculpt suffers a bit, because they have to contend with adding in all of those joints, which always means breaking things up, and leaving more room for error on misassembly.  Ultimately, it’s not a bad sculpt, and in fact there’s a lot I like about it, though it is a little hard to properly judge some aspects thanks to the paint.  I feel I should start the discussion of the paint by stressing that my figure doesn’t look as bad in person as in the photos.  That said, yes, her face is off center, and it looks really odd.  It would probably look far nicer if it were better applied, and then I might like this whole thing a lot more, but as it is, she’s passable but not really great.  She’s a decently accessorized figure, certainly the best of this new bunch, with her staff, lightsaber both ignited and off, her blaster she got from Han, and a removable back pack piece.  My one main complaint is that she’s got nowhere to hang the lightsaber hilt that I could find, but that’s fairly minor.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As this review will have no doubt clued you in, I remain rather apprehensive of TVC.  I liked some of the figures back in the day, but there’s something about it that just seems…out of place?  Black Series came a long and showed me that full articulation works better at the larger scale, and the basic 5-POA stuff reminded me that I really have a lot more fun personally with that style of figure.  If I want a large spread of characters, I’m going for basic and cheap, and if I want something higher end, I’ll drop it for the more important characters.  For me, TVC seems like a shaky middle ground.  The small upcharge per figure really adds up, and I frequently find myself less than thrilled with the articulation.  It’s honestly something I’d kind of confronted with the Walmart-exclusive Black Series, but at least with those, I could focus on the things I wanted to collect instead.  Without the things I want to collect, I guess these become even more frustrating.  Rey’s not a bad figure, but I guess she’s not what I wanted, and it makes being objective tricky.

#2193: Poe’s X-Wing Fighter

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

POE’S X-WING FIGHTER & POE DAMERON

STAR WARS: THE VINTAGE COLLECTION (HASBRO)

October 4th of this year as Triple Force Friday, the third major film product launch for Star Wars since Disney took over the franchise.  There’s been a definite cooling off of the events and their cultural impact as things have progressed and Triple Force Friday was quite indicative of this.  Despite a lot of hyping on the part of Disney’s marketing machine, it was just rather anticlimactic.  I did actually participate in an early run the morning of (since there were no midnight openings to be had near me), and picked up a whopping two things.  I know.  But, I did come up with enough items to do a week of coverage, so I guess here we go?  I’m starting things in the most me way of doing so, with a look at something Poe related, specifically Poe’s X-Wing fighter, and the guy what flies it, Poe Dameron himself.

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

There were two vehicles present for the launch this year, which marks a serious scaling down from prior years.  There’s Luke’s X-Wing (which is OT-based) and Poe’s X-Wing.  That’s it.  Also unlike prior launches, these aren’t the slightly cheaper, more all-ages oriented offerings, but rather are part of the newly-returning Vintage Collection, meaning their designed to be (closer) to proper scale, and far more detailed that previous offerings.  While Luke’s fighter is purely an online exclusive, Poe’s is, in theory, supposed to be showing up at brick and mortar locations.  Like its slightly downsized counterpart from The Force Awakens, Poe’s X-Wing has a little bit of required assemble when taking it out of the box, though it’s slightly more intricate when it comes to properly getting the wings and such attached.  There are instructions included and it’s pretty straightforward, so I had no issues getting it all properly put together.  Once fully assembled, it’s definitely a big boi, at 18 1/2 inches in length and with a wingspan of 18 inches, making it noticeably larger than the previous Poe X-Wing, if still under-scaled for proper movie scaling.  It’s also a far more detailed item, with the shared details being a lot sharper on this particular offering.  Additionally, there are far less obvious points of assembly, and some of the less oft-seen parts of the ship are actually properly detailed this time around.  There’s a fully detailed cockpit this time around, which is far better scaled to the Poe figure that is intended to go in it, with a defined seat, console, and controls.  In order to make it more of a display piece and less of a toy piece (and no doubt in order to offer just a touch more customizability), the spot for BB-8 is not filled by a permanently attached BB, but instead has a spot that can hold either a BB or a classic Astromech unit.  With the BB removed, the launching mechanism for the wings also had to be moved; now it’s done via two buttons built into the rear of the ship, which are quite nicely hidden.  The vehicle also gets proper landing hear and such this time, rather than just the one foot at the front of the ship.  All three pieces of gear are designed to fold up compactly and out of the way, and are fully detailed when deployed.  They do take a little of work to get properly locked into place when deployed, but work better than I’d initially expected.  Also included with the landing gear is a little ladder, used for the pilot to get into place, which even has a dedicated spot on the underside of the ship, which is pretty darn nifty.  The biggest change to the Fighter in-universe is of course the colorscheme, which is generally a much brighter appearance.  I really dig this look, and I look forward to seeing it in action in the film.  The paint does a respectable job of capturing the colors, as well as still giving the ship a real worn-in appearance, which the prior ST vehicles have more frequently shied away from.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Unlike prior X-Wings, this one *didn’t* come packed with its pilot and droid.  There is, however, a Poe packed in the corresponding Vintage Collection assortment for the launch (if you need a BB-8, though, you’re going to have a slightly more difficult time of things), which I figured I’d take a look at alongside the vehicle.  While most of the assortment was all-new figures, Poe is actually a slight tweaking of Poe’s small-scale Black Series figure from 2015.  That figure definitely had its ups and downs, especially when it come to implementation of the articulation in the sculpt, so I myself wouldn’t have minded a fully new figure, but I’m hopeful that Hasbro’s got plans for an all-new figure in Poe’s non-piloting gear, and that this guy can be just a bit more of a place holder.  The primary selling point for this release (beyond the vintage style card, which is admittedly pretty cool) is the improved paintwork.  The last release had some pretty rough face paint, but this one uses the printing style.  It’s a little bit off center on my figure, but a marked improvement over my last figure.  Like his last release, this figure is packed with a helmet and a blaster pistol.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After being quite underwhelmed by the overall product launch, the only thing that really stuck out at the launch was Poe’s X-Wing, which I do have to say I like the new look of.  So, the Vintage vehicle was the main thing I was looking for when I hit up a handful of stores Friday morning, and was also the one thing I didn’t see anywhere at all that morning, meaning I ended up having to resort to order it online.  That sure made the getting up first thing in the morning to go out feel totally worth it.  In an effort to not feel totally defeated the day of, I grabbed the Poe re-release in person at my first hit-up.  The X-Wing is definitely a very nice piece, no doubt about it, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel it didn’t fit my sensibilities as much as the more gimmicky releases from prior films.  It also feels a lot less of package deal, given the lack of included figures.  For Poe, it’s not a huge issue, since the single card will no doubt be easy enough to get, but BB-8 has no 3 3/4 figures currently at market, which could prove frustrating to someone who doesn’t have a couple laying around.

#2192: Daredevil & Sin-Eater

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

DAREDEVIL & SIN-EATER

MARVEL MINIMATES

“The Death of Jean DeWolff” is a notable story for a multitude of reasons.  Perhaps most prominently, it created a rather lasting connection between Daredevil and Spider-Man, who are paired off in both their super heroic and civilian lives over the course of the story.  The story is also notable, though perhaps slightly less so, for the introduction of a brand-new villain, DeWolff’s murderer, the Sin-Eater.  The two pair off in today’s set!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Daredevil and Sin-Eater were part of Series 43 of Marvel Minimates, which was a whole assortment based on the “Death of Jean DeWolff.”

DAREDEVIL

Daredevil’s no stranger to Minimates, being the focal point of the very first Series and all.  However, at the time of this ‘mate’s release, we hadn’t gotten a basic red DD in quite some time, and the last one had been part of an exclusive offering.  Given the prominence of his role in “The Death of Jean DeWolff”, he’s a natural fit for the assortment.  This same figure was also offered in TRU Series 13, alongside the Kingpin.  Daredevil is constructed using two add-on pieces, one for his mask, and the other for his billy club holster.  The mask had previously been used on the Shadowland version of DD from Series 38, and has subsequently become the standard piece for him.  While it think the horns might be just a touch too long, it’s otherwise a very nice piece, and a worth replacement for the older Series 1 mask.  The holster was new to this figure (and, like the mask, has become a standard issue piece for the character).  It sits well on the thigh, and holds the clubs securely.  And, most importantly, it doesn’t impede the leg movement or stick out awkwardly like the old piece did.  The paint on this version of DD is rather striking.  The red is very bright, and the contrast of the black shaded details adds quite a bit of pop to his design.  It’s a very artistic interpretation of the character, and matches up with his comics incarnation in a way that would be hard to do in other formats.  The musculature helps to make him a far cry from the old Series 1 version, and I absolutely love how well his face lines up with what’s printed on the mask.  Underneath, there’s a Matt Murdock face, which even includes his sunglasses, allowing for a more proper unmasked appearance.  Daredevil was packed with two batons (which can be stowed in his thigh holster), a grappling cane, and a spare hairpiece (reused from Series 21’s Tony Stark) for his unmasked look.

SIN-EATER

Perpetrator of the titular murder, and central to the story’s big mystery is the Sin-Eater, a villain who made his debut in the pages of this story.  In retrospect, a rather minor character, perhaps, and not one who had a particularly lengthy career, but an impactful character all the same.  Sin-Eater has six add-on pieces in use.  He’s got a generic slip-on mask, glove cuffs, a belt, and a pair of flared boots.  All of his pieces are re-used from prior offerings; the mask has been used countless times, the cuffs are from The Spirit ‘mates, the belt is Batman’s, and the boots hail from the Invaders boxed set.  Fortunately, Sin-Eater’s undoubtedly one of those characters that’s almost tailor-made for re-use, and this assortment of parts suits him well.  Sin-Eater’s paintwork is garish and rather appalling…which is to say it’s quite loyal to the source material.  His costume has to be one of the ugliest ones ever to come out of Marvel Comics.  That doesn’t stop the paint on this figure from being exemplary, though.  The detail work, especially on the “face” of the mask, is quite impressive.  Underneath of the mask is the face of….SPOILERS on a story that’s decades old…Stan Carter.  Stan’s very angry, which is a nice change of pace, and I like how the eyes line-up with those on the mask.  For accessories, Sin-Eater includes his shotgun, which I believe was a new piece.  He also includes an alternate hair piece to display Stan unmasked, as well as an extra head and hair, depicting Sin-Eater red-herring Emil Gregg.  Gregg uses the same eyes as Stan and the main mask, thereby making him just as credible an unmasked identity for the villain, and somewhat preserving the surprise for those buying the set without having read the story.  That’s a nice touch!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Series 43 was an assortment I was very excited for when it hit, so I made a point of picking it up brand new from Cosmic Comix on day of release.  Daredevil was certainly in need of an update to his standard look, and this figure delivered that in spades.  Even all these years later, he’s still one of the best versions out there.  Sin-Eater’s definitely a much more minor character, but it’s always nice to see such characters crop up from time to time.  DST put in the effort to make a good figure of this guy, and it paid off!