Category Archives: Reviews

#1938: War Machine & Cull Obsidian

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

WAR MACHINE & CULL OBSIDIAN

MARVEL MINIMATES

“As the Avengers and their allies have continued to protect the world from threats too large for any one hero to handle, a new danger has emerged from the cosmic shadows: Thanos. A despot of intergalactic infamy, his goal is to collect all six Infinity Stones, artifacts of unimaginable power, and use them to inflict his twisted will on all of reality. Everything the Avengers have fought for has led up to this moment – the fate of Earth and existence itself has never been more uncertain.”

Man, three Marvel movies in one year sure does have a way of burning out and making it easy for some of the merch to slip through the cracks for way longer than you’d expect.  Good thing I made it through last year unscathed and I don’t have to do it again…crap, I have to do it again, don’t I?  Well, I’d best get through the last of *last* year’s stuff, then, shouldn’t I?  So, without further ado, War Machine & Cull Obsidian!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

War Machine and Cull Obsidian were one of the two Walgreens-exclusives pairings in the second Infinity War-based assortment of Marvel Minimates.  Compared to the more retread-heavy Drax and Gamora, they had a tendency of being the first set to vanish a lot of the time.

WAR MACHINE

After peddling the same War Machine ‘mate three times, DST finally gave us an honest to god update for his Infinity War appearance.  Though not amazingly different from his armor in Civil War, Rhodey’s suit had still been slightly tinkered with for its somewhat brief appearance in IW, so that’s what we’re seeing here.  The figure is based on the standard ‘mate body, with a generic slip-on mask piece, a new torso cap, upper arms, and belt, and the gauntlets from the last five versions of the character.  It does a respectable job of estimating Rhodey’s appearance from the movie.  I don’t mind the move back to printed faces for the helmets, and it’s at the very least consistent with how they handled Tony’s Mark 50 armor.  The more specific parts are as well-sculpted as ever, matching up with the re-used gauntlets in terms of design aesthetic and level of detailing.  The paint work on this figure is better than the last few War Machine’s; the mix of gunmetal grey and silver looks nice, and I’m happy that they kept the camo patterning the armor had in the movie.  It helps to make this armor seem a bit more unique compared to the others.  Under the helmet is another stab at a Don Cheadle likeness.  I think this one’s not as good as the IM2 version, but at least it doesn’t look as goofy as the AoU variant.  War Machine is packed with a flight stand and a standard clear display stand.

CULL OBSIDIAN

Poor Cull Obsidian.  He just can’t catch a break for accuracy.  His Legends release, though an awesomely fun figure, was based on an early design that wasn’t all that close to the final.  The ‘mate clearly was put into production later in the process, as he ends up a lot closer, but there are still some slight inaccuracies.  He gets a unique head, torso cap, upper left arm, and skirt piece, as well as re-using the standard “big guy” parts for his right arm, left hand, legs, and feet.  The detail work on some of the character-specific parts, the head in particular, is a little soft, but the important details are all there, and he’s got more sculpted elements than not.  The design, at least from a sculpting standpoint, isn’t that noticeably different from his final look in the movie.  The paint is is decent, though he’s again a little light on the detailing.  I think it’s the skin that bugs me the most, especially after the Legends figure.  The colors on the costume were ever so slightly tweaked by the time the movie came out as well, but they aren’t terribly far off.  The biggest change from this figure to the screen comes in the form of accessories.  In the movie, Cull has a sort of hammer/axe/chain sort of thing.  Here?  He’s essentially got some space-brass-knuckles.  The Pop! and one of the statues also had these, indicating the weapon he had in the final movie was a very late game adjustment.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked these up…gosh…back in September, if you can believe it.  The second set took forever to hit Walgreens, but I managed to find this particular pair without too much trouble once they actually started showing up.  And then they sat and waited for me to open them for a good four months, because I got distracted and kind of forgot I had them…whoops.  It’s nice to finally get a new War Machine after all this time, and a more accurate Cull Obsidian is pretty cool too.  Definitely not a bad pack.

#1937: Batman Beyond

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

BATMAN BEYOND

DC SUPER FRIENDS (IMAGINEXT)

“How can Batman protect the future of Gotham City?
He passes down his crime-fighting skills to a younger generation.  This younger Batman has even cooler gadgets too, like this motorcycle that transforms into a glider AND launches disks.”

Though it may be aimed at a younger audience than my usual faire, I keep finding myself called back to Imaginext.  It’s one of the more expansive styles out there.  Above all, they have easily one of the best collections of DC characters on the market right now, covering all sorts of different eras and corners of the universe.  One of the more recent additions is a fairly popular character who doesn’t have quite the toy coverage you might expect, Terry McGuinness, aka Batman Beyond!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Batman Beyond is one of the “figure and vehicle” offerings from Imaginext’s DC Super Friends line, and he started arriving at retail late last year.  The figure stands about 3 inches tall and has 8 points of articulation (with the legs moving as one, just like they always do).  Terry is built on the basic Batman body for this line, which isn’t perhaps the most accurate, but Imaginext is known to tweak some designs ever so slightly.  All it really means is that he’s got some more piping and texturing on his costume than he usual does, and given Terry’s future-setting, it’s not an unreasonable look.  Plus, this way, he still has the glove scallops and utility belt.  The rest of the work is paint, or lack there of.  He’s molded in all black, which is sensible, and helps to downplay all that extra sculpted detailing.  The white and red sections are well-handled and pretty clean looking.  The expression on the final figure is slightly changed from what was shown on the proto, which was using a teeth gritted expression that looked lifted pretty straight from the animation.  On the final release, he’s got this sort of side-leaning grin, which certainly looks goofier, and I suppose a bit friendlier, which was probably the main point.  BB is packed with a bat-styled motorcycle.  It seems a little more conventional in design than the vehicles from the show, but it’s not a bad design, and the choice to give him a cycle is a pretty sensible one for Terry.  The wings are spring-loaded, and can be popped down by a button on the back, which is pretty fun, and, of course, there’s the aforementioned disk launching device, which, while rudimentary, certainly has its value.  There are also three disks provided for it to launch.  Perhaps the only thing not included that I’d have liked to see is a pair of wings, but it’s not the end of the world.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Unlike a lot of my Imaginext purchases, Batman Beyond was actually not a spur of the moment pick-up.  I had heard about the set from Max, and I was actually keeping my eye out for it.  I ended up finding it just before Christmas, while picking up some last minute Christmas supplies at K-Mart of all places.  Yeah, I’m as surprised as you.  I was quite happy to find him, and, as I’d anticipated, he’s just a fun toy.

#1936: Poe Dameron & BB-8

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

POE DAMERON & BB-8

STAR WARS: RESISTANCE (HASBRO)

“A hotshot X-wing pilot for the Resistance, Poe Dameron is a natural leader who keeps an eye on the crew of the Colossus.  When Poe sets out on his own missions, he leaves behind BB-8, a rolling BB unit whose spherical shell is packed with useful tools and computer interface equipment, to work alongside Kaz and the rest of the crew.”

With the somewhat longer hiatus than usual between Solo and Episode IX, plus the ending of Rebels, the market was in need of some other form of Star Wars media to tide us all over.  Enter Star Wars Resistance.  Set prior to The Force Awakens, it follows a group of Resistance pilots, and…uhh, well that’s all I know.  I haven’t actually seen any of it yet.  I *have* seen the toys, or at least some of them, including my main man Poe Dameron, who I’ll be taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Poe Dameron and BB-8 are part of the launch for the Star Wars Resistance toyline.  They’re a slightly more deluxe offering, which appears to be replacing the two-packs we got for Last Jedi and Solo.  It gives us Poe in his X-Wing pilot gear, which appears to be (mostly) the same as it is in the films.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and has 5 points of articulation. I was a little saddened to see him only sporting the basic 5 joints, after the Last Jedi pilot release added in wrist swivels, but there are enough figures without those joints that it’s not a huge surprise.  Poe is sporting an all-new sculpt, depicting his animated design.  Obviously, it’s not going to fit in with your basic movie figures, but he’s fairly similar to the Rebels figures we’ve been getting the last few years.  He’s long and lanky, and the detail work is more on the reserved side.  His head sculpt, despite being based on an animated incarnation, may very well be the best Poe we’ve seen to date, at least from Hasbro.  He’s certainly more of a caricature than other figures, and it’s still not a perfect match, but it’s certainly better than I was expecting.  Poe’s paintwork is pretty basic, befitting his animated nature.  The application is pretty clean, and the face seems to have a bit more detail than I’m used to seeing on the basic figures.  I’m wondering if this is a change in how the paint is done, similar to the printed faces for Black Series and Legends.  I wouldn’t mind seeing something like this on future figures.  Poe is packed with his helmet (in the more generic blue and white, rather than his black squadron leader coloring), a blaster pistol, and, of course, BB-8.  BB is about an inch tall and has the usual ball-jointed head.  Unlike other small-scale BBs, this one doesn’t have the flattened out section at the bottom; he’s a proper sphere like the Black Series release.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, I *tried* to buy a Poe a lot earlier than I succeeded.  While grabbing a few other things at Target, I saw him there, and thought “hey, there’s a Poe figure I don’t have.”  Little did I know he was still street dated at the time, so I wasn’t able to purchase him.  A week later, I was at the same Target, and all of the Resistance figures that had been there were gone.  No Poe for me.  Then I spotted him stashed back behind another item, and grabbed him, though I still wasn’t sure I’d actually be able to buy him.  Well, as you can see, I was.  Yay.  He’s a fun figure.  Nothing amazing, or Earth-shattering, but he’s nice.

#1935: Spider-Man & Jean DeWolff

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

SPIDER-MAN & JEAN DEWOLFF

MARVEL MINIMATES


In 1985, then up-and-coming writer Peter David penned “The Death of Jean DeWolff.”  Published in Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #107-110, the four part story began with the discovery of the titular death of Police Captain Jean DeWolff, a once quite prominent Spider-Man supporting cast-member.  It was rather ground breaking at the time of its publication, shifting the overall tone of the book, and helping to pave the way not only for longer form storytelling, but also darker stories, all within the confines of the mainstream Marvel universe.  In 2012, the story was used as the basis for the 43rd Series of Marvel Minimates.  The first of those sets includes Jean DeWolff herself, alongside Spider-Man.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two are a pair from the aforementioned Series 43 of Marvel Minimates, dubbed the “Jean DeWolff Saga” by a label on the upper right side of the box.

SPIDER-MAN

Though he had at this point ditched the actual symbiote, Peter Parker was still wearing his cloth replica of his black costume at the time of this story.  It’s fairly fortunate, really, as it better fit the more film noir stylings of the story.  In a meta sense, it gave Minimate collectors another chance at the black costumed look; this was the fourth time we’d seen it show up in Minimate form.  Unlike the prior release of this costume, which made use of a removable mask, this one returned back to the straight vanilla body, with no add-ons at all.  Given the general sleekness of this particular design, it was a definite improvement.  The important details are all handled via paint.  This figure takes a page out of the Big Time costume’s book, and augment’s Spidey’s two-toned look with a bit of accent work, detailing not only the musculature of his torso and legs, but also granting a slightly more human shape to his head and face.  In contrast to the Big Time release, whose accenting seemed a bit too subtle, this figure’s seems perhaps a touch too noticeable; that bright blue really stands out, and perhaps robs the design of some of its more striking elements.  Still, it’s far from bad work.  Spider-Man was packed with a webline, a fairly standard inclusion.  Given that he hit retail shelves at the same time as the Best Of version of the character, it’s a little bit of a shame that he doesn’t also get an unmasked head.  Of course, he hit retail shelves at the same time as that figure, so it’s not like an unmasked Peter Parker head was difficult to find.

JEAN DEWOLFF

Before becoming the unfortunate victim of the murder that kicks off this story, Jean DeWolff had been a fairly prominent Spider-Man supporting player for about a decade or so.  Jean was introduced by Bill Mantlo while working on Marvel Team-Up in the ’70s, as he wanted a supporting cast member to serve as connective tissue from story to story.  I suppose in that respect, Jean was something of a prototype for the live-action versions of Phil Coulson and Claire Temple.  Jean was always known for her retro sense of fashion, with berets and fishnets and the like; this figure follows that, giving us a look that is a good summation of DeWolff’s classic look.  Jean makes use of two sculpted add-on pieces, one new, one old.  The new was her hair/beret.  It’s a very nicely detailed piece, and manages to make her hat not look totally ridiculous, which is always good with this style of thing.  She also uses the knee-length standard skirt piece, first introduced on the Series 17 Gwen Stacy.  It’s a fairly basic piece and perhaps a little limiting to the articulation, but it gets the job done.  Despite getting more sculpted extras than her pack-mate, Jean doesn’t skimp on the painted details either.  The colorscheme is bright and eye-catching, and the detail lines, especially the stitching on her jacket, is some of the best we’ve seen on a Minimate.  She’s even got the proper cross-hatching on her legs for her fishnets.  That’s definitely a nice touch!  Jean is packed with two accessories: a revolver, and an alternate hand holding her badge.  The revolver comes from the Dollars sets, and is still a great piece.  The badge was originally set to be included in the Beverly Hills Cop set, but with that set’s cancellation, it saw its debut here.  It’s always cool to see such pieces find a new home, and given how Jean’s badge factored into the Death of Jean DeWolff, it’s a smart inclusion here.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This was an assortment I was quite excited for, so I quite eagerly picked them up from Cosmic Comix when they first showed up at retail.  Topping the original Black Costume Spidey is a very steep task indeed, and this one doesn’t quite get there.  He’s very close, and definitely the best of the follow-up black costume releases, but that bright blue detailing holds him back ever so slightly.  Still, a very strong offering.  Jean could have just been a rather forgettable civilian figure, but instead, DST put in the effort to make her one of the best figures in this wave, and certainly the star of this set.

#1934: 8D8

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

8D8

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“Originally designed to work in smelting factories, 8D8 worked under EV-9D9 in Jabba the Hutt’s droid operations center.”

There are a lot of droids in Star Wars, of all sorts of differing models and styles.  When in doubt about what to do for a Star Wars line, they can always bring out the driods.  During Power of the Force II, one of the running sub-goals of the line was re-creating the line-up of the original vintage toyline.  That was a large contributing factor to today’s figure, 8D8, finding his way into the line.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

8D8 was released in the 1998 assortment of Power of the Force II.  He’s the second figure of 8D8, and also the final figure of 8D8.  Why no updates since then?  Well, I’m gonna get to that.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Movement-wise, this guy’s not ideal.  He lacks the at the time standard waist joint, which is sort of odd, since the design clearly would have allowed for it.  The design of the hips compared to the arms means that the movement on both the shoulders and the hips is quite restricted.  Guess it all hinges on that sweet neck movement?  Yay?  The sculpt was unique to this figure, and though it comes from later in the run, it’s still kind of plagued by pre-posing.  He’s like, mid-stride, or something.  Whatever the case, he has a lot of trouble standing, and the pre-posing means that his already limited articulation is even further limited if you want to keep him standing.  On the plus side, the actual sculpt is a solid recreation of 8D8 as seen in the movie, and there’s plenty of sharp and clean detail work going on.  The paintwork is also pretty decent.  He’s mostly just molded in an off-white sort of color, but he’s got some silver accenting and his red detailing from the film.  Like the sculpt, it matches up pretty well with what we see on the screen.  8D8 has an “action feature” of light-up eyes.  Nothing super fancy, just a basic light-piping feature, but I guess it gives him a little extra pop.  8D8 is packed with the droid branding device we see him using in the movie, which is one of the better extras from the line.  Also, as a 1998 release, he included a Freeze Frame slide, showing him in the actual movie.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

8D8 is from a recent run on Power of the Force I did, in my ever-expanding mission to get a complete collection of the line.  I got him from my friends at All Time Toys, for essentially nothing, since I was grabbing so many others.  Ultimately, I can’t say he’s a particularly great figure, and I think it’s really just a design that doesn’t so much lend itself to toy-form, which is probably why it hasn’t shown up again.

#1933: Optimus Prime

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

OPTIMUS PRIME

TRANSFORMERS WAR FOR CYBERTRON: SIEGE (HASBRO)

Oh wow, what’s this?  Another Transformers review?  On this little old site?  But it’s only been a day since the last one!  Is that enough of a waiting period?  I wouldn’t want people to think I might be some sort of *shudder* Transformers fan…

Well, if I’m gonna commit to this potential Transformers fan thing, I’ve got one pretty big hurdle I’m gonna need to overcome.  You see, in my over two decades of collecting, I have never once owned a single figure of the most definitive Transformer of all time, Optimus Prime.  Yeah, I don’t know how that happened either.  Well, I mean, I might; it could possibly be related to me exclusively buying figures of Soudwave.  That might have done it.  Whatever the case, I’m striving to make up for this horrible gaping hole in my collection.  So, without further ado, here’s Optimus Prime!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Optimus is part of the first wave of Voyager Class releases for Hasbro’s new War For Cybertron: Siege line, where he was paired off with his Decepticon equivalent Megatron.  In his robot mode, Optimus stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 26 practical points of articulation.  This figure is sporting a brand new sculpt, patterned on the original G1 Optimus, or at least a very idealized version of it.  This Optimus aims to be the figure Transformers fans *remember* playing with, rather than the one the actually did…unless your me, and this figure actually *is* the figure you were playing with.  That’s not the point, though.  I was quite impressed by the implementation of the articulation on this figure; it’s easily on par with Legends and the like, at least in terms of range.  All of the joints are free and clear to do as they please, and a lot of them are very cleverly hidden on this guy.  His sculpt is boxy, and very full of small detail work, but not so much that it ruins that nice clean-lined feel of the classic Optimus design.  I particularly dig the rivets on the upper arms, as well as the transparent windows of the cab.  And, though there is no separate Matrix of Leadership included with this figure (thought he shape of one is hinted behind the windows when he’s in vehicle mode), the torso is clearly designed with the possibility of housing one in mind. Part of the slickness of this particular figure’s robot mode comes from how it handles the kibble on the back.  The remnants of his truck cab fold up into a rather compact and manageable back pack piece, and the headlights on the arms, though a bit more noticeable, still can be passed off as forearm guards.  Optimus’s alt-mode is a smoke-stack-sporting truck reminiscent of his original incarnation’s freight truck.  It’s been slightly Cybertron-ized, since I guess these figures are technically supposed to be pre-Earth, but it’s still very clear where the influence lies.  I find the cab of the truck in particular to be the most convincing piece.  The back looks a little more like it’s just his legs flipped around, since that’s kinda what it is and all.  I will say, that although there are technically more steps to the process of transforming this guy, I did find it as a whole a much easier experience, and am much more willing to swap Prime back and forth on a frequent basis.  He’s still going to be staying a robot most of the time, of course, but I see this one being a figure I pick up and fiddle with more frequently.  Optimus is packed with two accessories: a blaster and an axe.  The blaster is pretty straight-forward piece, and can be held in his hand in robot mode, or mounted in one of the handful of 5mm ports when in truck mode.  The axe is slightly more complex, with a transformation of its own.  Out of the the package, it’s an axe, but you can also fold it up into a shield, which, like the blaster, can be mounted in one of the 5mm ports.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I blame Max.  No, really, it’s all Max’s fault.  I wasn’t into Transformers, I swear.  Okay, so, it’s a little bit Max’s fault, and a little bit Bumblebee‘s fault.  Max was really up-selling this figure to me, and I was trying to hold out.  And then I saw Bumblebee, with it’s classically-styled Optimus in all his classically-styled glory, and I thought “man, I need an Optimus.”  I was at All Time, I’d just traded in a bunch of stuff for store credit, they only had one of this guy in stock, and I was sort of having a bad day, so I just sort of grabbed him.  I don’t regret that choice for a second, because man is this a cool toy.  Like, even overlooking the transforming feature, he’s just a strong base figure, and a ton of fun to mess around with.  The only downside is that now I really want a bunch more.

As mentioned above, I picked this guy up from my friends at All Time Toys.  The first wave of Voyager Class Siege figures have sold out, but the Deluxe figures are still in-stock, and they’ll be carrying all of the new releases as they come.  If you’re looking for Transformers, or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#1932: Bumblebee

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

BUMBLEBEE

TRANSFORMERS: STUDIO SERIES (HASBRO)

You know what was a really good movie?  Bumblebee.  As someone who couldn’t make it through more than one of the prior live action Transformers films, I was quite pleasantly surprised by how thoroughly enjoyable a movie Bumblebee turned out to be.  It was fun, it was coherent, it had a cool ’80s backdrop, and it had a runtime that didn’t urge me to say goodbye to my loved ones before departing for the theatre.  It also revisited its title character’s design, returning him to the car he had been at the beginning, a VW Beetle, and by extension removing the perceived need to make him “cooler” that had been added by prior films.  And what do you know, all that change actually prompted me to buy a toy.  Please, try to contain your shock and awe.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Bumblebee is one of the Deluxe Class releases from Hasbro’s Transformers: Studio Series line, which is a whole line devoted to producing slightly more movie accurate figures from all six movies in the series.  He’s figure 18 in the line, and started showing up in October/November of last year.  In robot mode (ie, the mode he’s in right out of the box), he stands 5 1/4 inches tall and has 19 practical points of articulation.  Bee’s robot form is represented pretty well here.  There were clearly some changes between when the figure was designed and when the final movie arrived in theaters, as well as some additional changes necessitated by the figure’s actual transforming features.  On a whole, the figure is a little boxier, and not quite as polished as the Bee of the film, but he’s certainly recognizable, and he keeps the important changes from this design compared to earlier ones.  The implementation of the articulation is solid for the scale and the concept.  I might have liked some side to side movement on the wrists, but the hinge at least provides *some* movement.  I was quite happy with the movement on the head; that balljoint has a nice range to it.  Bee’s alt-mode is, of course, the Volkswagon Beetle, a major selling point, given how finicky Volkswagon is with their products.  The car mode is pretty decently handled.  The Volkswagon design is nicely rendered, and well captured, and there aren’t too many consolations that have to be made to make it work.  The transformation between the two modes is a little tricky, at least for me, a Transformers-pleb.  The biggest trick is folding up the hood and roof of the car behind him for the robo-mode.  It felt a bit like I was going to break it getting it in place there.  Similarly, getting everything locked into place for the car mode can be a little nerve wracking.  Ultimately, I was looking more for a cool robot figure that has the potential to turn into the car, not a car that can sometimes be a robot, so I’m okay with leaving him in the robot mode most of the time.  Bumblebee is packed with a few extras, all meant to accent the robot mode.  There’s the battle-mode faceplate, which swaps out for the regular one.  The first swap was a little tricky, but they generally go back and forth with relative ease.  There are also two weapon attachments: a cannon arm that swaps out for his right forearm, and a blade attachment, which can be plugged into either of the arms.  All this allows for a nice coverage of Bumblebee’s looks from the movie.  There’s also a cardboard backdrop, for them that want such things (I’ve never been much into them myself).

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I eyed this guy up a few times before seeing the movie, because I did just really like the design, but held off because I was trying not to get hooked on Transformers.  I really, really was.  But then, like a fool, I saw the movie.  And I really liked the movie.  So, then I *had* to have a Bumblebee.  And maybe some others, but more on that later.  Fortunately for me, my friends at All Time Toys were happy to set me up with one.  I’ve seen some negative opinions of this figure, but I myself am pretty darn happy with him.  He’s a fun little toy.

#1931: Han Solo

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

HAN SOLO

STAR WARS MIGHTY MUGGS (HASBRO)

Let it be known, I have *not* forgotten about Mighty Muggs!  Everybody else may have, but not me.  I’m stubborn like that.  Also, I haven’t forgotten about Solo.  Because, once again, stubborn.  What do you get when you put those two things together?  A total loss of faith in humanity’s ability to have nice things?  No, wait, that’s not quite right.  Solo-themed Mighty Muggs!  Yeah, that’s the one!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Han is number 10 in the Star Wars Mighty Muggs line, making him numerically the first Mugg in the third assortment of the line.  The whole assortment was Solo-themed, and this guy follows suit, meaning he’s based on Alden Ehrenreich’s Han, rather than Harrison Ford.  That being said, the more cartoony nature of their designs means that, aside from the costume choice, he could theoretically pass for either actor.  The figure stands 3 1/2 inches tall and he’s articulated at the shoulders and the neck.  He’s built on the exact same body as all of the other modern Muggs l’ve looked at.  It’s kind of the line’s whole thing, so no surprises here.  Han does get a new hair piece, which is stylized to match the rest of the line, while still maintaining the proper look for Han’s usual fabulous hair.  As is the new standard for Muggs, Han has an expression-changing feature, with three expressions featured.  Han gets cocky grin, sheepish grin, and annoyed sideways glance.  He’s the first of the ones I’ve looked at to not have any sort of a raging expression, but that actually feels totally appropriate for Han.  The basic cocky grin is probably going to be my go-to, but I think there’s a lot more versatility to these expressions, which I definitely dig.  Han has no accessories, which isn’t a huge surprise, but is a slight let-down.  I would have liked to have gotten his blaster, especially since all of the Jedi characters have gotten their light sabers.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After the first assortment, at the beginning of last year, Mighty Muggs seemed to just spontaneously disappear from every retail store.  Han here is the only one of the later assortments I ever saw, found at the Walmart around the corner from All Time Toys.  I was happy to find him, but kind of got distracted by other things.  Remember how I mentioned yesterday that Ghost Rider and The Fallen had been sitting on my desk for five months waiting to get reviewed?  Well, this guy’s been sitting on my desk for even longer.  I literally just opened him up 10 minutes before writing my review, which is cutting it much closer than I usually do.  I’m glad I finally got around to opening him up, and I feel a little bad about letting him sit for so long.  Some researching I did for this review also led me to find that apparently this line has *not* been abandoned by Hasbro, as a new assortment quietly appeared on Amazon.  Hopefully they actually find their way out!

#1930: Ghost Rider & The Fallen

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

GHOST RIDER & THE FALLEN

MARVEL MINIMATES

Toys and gimmicks go together like…two things that go together really well.  Sorry, I’m not much of a wordsmith.  (Pay no attention to the fact that I’ve written 1929 prior daily entries for this site).  Toys and comics also go together pretty well, as do comics and gimmicks.  So, sometimes, you hit this perfect trifecta of toys based on gimmicky comics.  Take, for instance, today’s focus, the Avengers of 1,000,000 BC, a very gimmicky concept running in the current Avengers comic from Jason Aaron, which has, in turn, led to some matching gimmicky toys.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Ghost Rider and The Fallen are one of the four two-packs in the standalone “Avengers of 1,000,000 BC” series of Marvel Minimates, available exclusively at Walgreens, starting in the fall of last year.

GHOST RIDER

“Bonded to a Spirit of Vengence, the Ghost Rider sits atop a giant wooly mammoth, who later falls victim to the Fallen.”

I feel I should at this juncture clarify something I needed clarified for me: it’s the mammoth that is a victim of The Fallen, not Ghost Rider.  The phrasing on the bio’s slightly off, so I got confused, especially since I haven’t actually read the whole “Avengers of 1,000,000 BC story.  With that bit of confusion aside, let’s look at the actual figure!  He stands 2 1/4 inches tall and he has the usual 14 points of articulation.  He’s constructed on the basic ‘mate body, with add-ons for his “hair,” necklace, loincloth, and arm wrappings.  The hair is re-used from the Series 50 Ghost Rider; a sensible choice, since it’s not like flame hair’s gonna really change all that much.  The arm bands are similarly re-used; they’re the same ones that cropped up on the Best Of Iron Fist, among others.  The necklace is new, and it’s a pretty impressive piece.  It certainly sells the 1,000,000 BC aesthetic.  I *think* the loincloth is new, which is honestly a little surprising, since there’s not really anything all that unique about it.  That said, the same piece was also used for the Phoenix from this line-up, so maybe DST just thought it was time for a new standard piece.  Whatever the case, it gets the job done.  The paintwork on Ghost Rider is solid work.  The colors are a bit monochromatic, but that’s true of a number of the designs from this set.  The line work is quite sharp, and I do really like the skull face on this one.  I may be swapping that onto a more standard issue GR.  Ghost Rider is packed with a pair of flame effects to slide over his fists, as well as the standard clear display stand.

THE FALLEN

“The Fallen is one of a race of Celestials, highly powerful beings who pass judgement on all planetary bodies and the creatures who live on them.”

Despite their recurrent presence in the Marvel Universe, the Celestials have never been a particularly toyetic bunch.  Also known as Zgreb the Aspriant, The Fallen is the first of them to actually been made as an action figure, largely thanks to his presence as the main antagonist to the Avengers of 1,000,000 BC’s first story arc.  He’s by far the most divergent of the bunch design-wise, being all futuristic and robot-y.  He’s also largely re-used parts, if you can believe it.  His torso/head is an all new piece (and a quite nicely sculpted one at that), but the other eight add-on parts are borrowed from the Series 63 Hulkbuster. While not perfect matches for the source material, I’m willing to call the appendages close enough, and there’s no denying he looks pretty darn cool.  Also pretty darn cool is the paint; unlike the rest of the assortment, he’s actually pretty colorful and dynamic, going back the classic Marvel color scheme of green and purple.  The application is nice and clean, and the metallic finish really looks top notch.  His only accessory is a clear display stand, but honestly, I don’t know what else you would give him.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m not overly enamored by the whole Avengers of 1,000,000 BC thing, so for the most part the ‘mates didn’t do much to excite me.  However, I came across them after last year’s incredibly lengthy minimate drought, so I was just excited to find *anything* new.  While the other three sets still didn’t grab me, I liked The Fallen a fair bit, and if nothing else Ghost Rider had a decent Ghost Rider head.  Of course, then they sat on my desk waiting to be reviewed for five months.  Yikes.

#1929: Omega

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

OMEGA

FORTNITE (JAZWARES)

Oh boy.  More Fortnite.  Remember Fortnite?  That thing I said I had no attachment to, but for which I have now written four reviews? Yeah.  That’s the one.  For what it’s worth, this us my last Fortnite review, at least for the foreseeable future.  Somewhat appropriately for my last review of this set, I’m going to be taking a look at Omega!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Omega was released in the “Early Game Survival Kit”, a slightly more deluxe offering from Jazwares’ Fortnite line, which falls right between the “Solo Mode” and “Drama Llama” offerings.  The figure stands 4 inches tall and he has 28 points of articulation.  In the game, Omega is a progressive skin, meaning he starts out rather basic, and gains new armor as the player progresses.  The Omega seen here is a fully kitted-out version, which I suppose is a sensible choice.  His construction is the same styling as the other Fortnite figures, so he’s a pretty solid little toy with a decent spread of articulation.  The only slight downstep from others is this figure’s more restricted elbow movement, but he’s still getting more than 45 degrees, so we’re not quite at Mattel levels.  The sculpt does a solid job of recreating the in-game design, though like the others, the detailing can be a little soft in some spots.  He’s certainly helped by the design’s more simplistic nature, which just makes for a clean overall figure.  The paintwork is decent, if perhaps not anything amazing.  I like the metallic finish, and the application is overall pretty good.  There’s a little bit of slop, especially on the red lines, but given the scale and the price point, he’s certainly passable.  The more deluxe nature of this release means that he’s a little better accessorized than Raptor was, but not *quite* as accessory heavy as Rust Lord.  He gets a Legendary Assault Rifle, the Onslaught harvesting tool, Precision back pack, Wet Paint Glider, and a foot-peg-bearing building plate.  It’s a nice little taste of all the differing accessory types.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Despite being my last of the reviews, Omega was actually the second Fortnite item I acquired.  Super Awesome Fiancee’s store had gotten him in, and after I was so happy with Rust-Lord, she asked me if I might also like this guy.  I’m hardly one to turn down someone buying me a cool action figure, so I of course took her up on it.  Omega is another solid toy from this line, and I definitely dig it.