Category Archives: Reviews

#3987: Ahsoka Clone Trooper

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

AHSOKA’S CLONE TROOPER

STAR WARS: GALAXY OF ADVENTURES (HASBRO)

My last Galaxy of Adventures review was published in January of 2020.  Good thing nothing major has happened since then, huh?  Oh, wait, sorry, I’m getting word that *everything* major has happened since then.  My mistake.  When I wrote my last GoA review, the line was still quite new, and most of what had been shown off was already released.  We had two items, both from the then upcoming final season of Clone Wars, that we knew were coming, but we didn’t know when.  In the chaos that was 2020 and its effects on the retail landscape, more GoA figures were released, but not in any way that was consistent or easily located, and it was a good couple of figures before we got the two we were expecting, and even then, they were kind of an understated release.  But, umm, I got one?  So, without further ado, here’s Ashoka’s Clone Trooper, about six years overdue.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ahsoka’s Clone Trooper was, at least initially, meant to be released in the third series of Star Wars: Galaxy of Adventures, which would have, presumably, hit in the spring of 2020, to coincide with the release of the final episodes of Clone Wars, which are the episodes wherein this design appeared.  Distribution chain issues made that troublesome, so he and his assortment mates just sort of quietly showed up at the end of 2020, in pretty much no notable numbers much of anywhere, with no fanfare to speak of, and then kind of disappeared just as quickly and quietly.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 22 points of articulation.  His articulation scheme is much the same as the other figures in the line.  I always found it to be quite an effective set-up, hitting all of the major spots and offering up a good range of motion, while still keeping him at that basic price point level.  His sculpt was unique, though given its just the standard Phase II Clone armor, I’d imagine the plan wasn’t for it to stay that way, had the line gotten the chance to progress more naturally.  More than a few times in my old reviews, I referenced the line as having something of a Clone Wars aesthetic to it, and that’s none more evident than here, on a character from Clone Wars.  In fact, this winds up being the closest we’ve gotten to an Ahsoka Trooper that actually looks like they did on the screen, since all the other figures have been “real world” versions.   I really like this sculpt, and think it’s very clean and striking, and really works well.  The color work is what sells it specifically as an Ahsoka Trooper, with the distinctive markings on the helmet and all.  The paint’s a little bit spotty around some of the edges, but generally, it works well.  The Trooper is packed with a simple blaster rifle, which he can hold easily in his hands.  He sports an “action feature” in the form of spring-loaded shoulder joints, allowing for a “blaster fire” effect.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was a huge fan of this line early on, as can no doubt be seen in all those early run reviews.  Unfortunately, the pandemic changed a lot of things in my life, which included how I shopped for toys, meaning I wasn’t going out of my way at retail to find things.  I ended up snagging a few of the later figures that came in through All Time second hand, but this one eluded me, which was a shame, because I was genuinely very excited for him.  It wound up kind of dampening my desire to get any others, and the line went away not long after that anyway, so that was that.  At least until I took Matty to Yesterday’s Fun while we were in the area back in December, and after buying him a few things, noticed this guy sitting near the counter.  I quite like this figure, and he’s pretty much exactly what I’d been hoping for six years ago when he was shown off.  It’s not often something takes me back to where I was six years ago, but this one did it, and that was honestly a nice experience. 

#3986: Pose Striking Die Fledermaus

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

POSE STRIKING DIE FLEDERMAUS 

THE TICK (BANDAI)

Okay, so the Tick’s catchphrase is “Spooooooooooon!” and Arthur’s is “Not in the Face! Not in the Face!” but what is Die Fledermaus’s?  Presumably something about leaving town for a week when danger rears its head.  One of the things that Ben Endlund talked about in his discussions of the production of the Tick cartoon was the need to introduce a more colorful cast of supporting players.  A lot of the effort went into creating super villains (who are largely not a thing in the early days of the comics), but there’s a notable cast of recurring heroes as well.  Die Fledermous, who’s name is the German word for “bat,” is a wholly original character with no similarities to any other masked super heroes owned by any other comic companies, in case you were wondering.  He got one single figure during the show’s run, which I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Pose Striking Die Fledermaus was released in the first series of Bandai’s The Tick tie-in line.  While most of the main cast were present in both the standard 5-inch line and the smaller 2 1/2-inch figurine line, Die Fledermaus was notable for only being in the larger scale line, making this figure his only toy.  The figure stands about 5 1/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Die Fledermaus, due to Bandai’s odd approach to scale, winds up as one of the tallest figures in the line, which isn’t quite accurate to the source material.  At least he was taller than Arthur.  The figure’s sculpt was unique to this release.  Die Fledermaus’s design isn’t a super complex one, but this figure notable takes an even more bare bones approach, with a sculpt that’s rather rudimentary.  The head’s quite a nice piece of work, at least, and is ultimately the best thing about it.  The mask is well defined, and there’s a clearly uneasy expression under the mask that feels very true to the character.  His body sculpt is rather lanky and tubular, which doesn’t quite feel right for Die Fledermaus, who, while not as bulky as the Tick, was usually shown as being of a moderate build.  He’s got very basic articulation, and a lot of what’s going on is worked into his “Pose Striking” action feature.  When you push up the lever on his back, his arms raise outward.  This is coupled with a cloth cape (which unfortunately lacks the more distinctive shaping at the top that it had in the show) allows him to “dramatically” flair the cape outward.  Unfortunately, it’s a very basic feature, and has no real way of locking in place, so it’s just sort of unimpressive.  Die Fledermaus’s color work once again falls into that “basic” realm, though this is one area where it’s really appropriate.  The application of paint’s generally good here, and he’s an okay match for the show.  The only downside is that he’s a victim of a line-wide issue, where his torso yellowed over time, and doesn’t quite match his limbs.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I missed the vast majority of Bandai’s The Tick run when it was new.  My freshman year of college, I decided I wanted to try to fix that, and ultimately bought a bunch of the smaller scale line, only to discover that there was no Die Fledermaus in that run.  Shortly after, I found this figure, and no other Tick figures, still sealed at an antique store, so I bought him.  And then, 15 years later, I got the Arthur figure I reviewed last week, which prompted me to retrieve this figure, still sealed, from my parents’ house, and finally open him.  I think he may hold a record for amount of time I’ve owned a figure without opening them.  And why?  I couldn’t tell you.  I just didn’t do it.  Now I have, and, well, I can’t say he’s an amazingly impressive figure, but also I can’t say I dislike him in the slightest.  He’s silly, but he’s fun, and I’m glad to finally have gotten the chance to recognize that.

#3985: Tyr

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

TYR

SUPER POWERS (KENNER)

Last year, I reviewed 25 Super Powers figures here on the site, which is a crazy metric for a line that was three decades dead and only had 35 total figures when I started the site.  McFarlane running a revival certainly helped bump those stats.  The main point I’m getting at here is that the rarity of a Super Powers review wasn’t really a thing last year.  Unfortunately, we’re going back to more standard operating on such things this year.  But, let’s at least start off on a good note, with a proper vintage figure review!  Today, we’re looking at that true classic of a DC character, Tyr. ….What, you don’t know Tyr?  I can’t believe you don’t know Tyr!  He’s only….wait, hang on, sorry, let me check the wiki…oh, darn, there’s no wiki.  Right.  So, like, the before times.  Tyr, despite indications to the contrary, was *not* a Kenner original creation like so many others in the final year of Super Powers, but rather a fairly minor Legion of Super Heroes villain.  He’d resurfaced not terribly long before his toy, but again as a minor player, making his inclusion odd to say the least, especially given that the Legion themselves wouldn’t get any sort of action figure coverage for another decade and a half.  But hey, that’s Kenner.  And this is Tyr.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Tyr was released in the third and final series of Kenner’s Super Powers line in 1986.  As with many of the characters contained within, this was Tyr’s first figure, and would also remain his only figure until DC Universe Classics released him as an expressed homage to Super Powers in 2010.  The figure stands just over 4 1/2 inches tall (not counting his mohawk) and he has 6 points of articulation.  Tyr’s articulation scheme is the same as all of the line’s standard figures, which is good and sensible.  He had a unique sculpt, which remained so, thanks largely to the end of the line.  He was based on Dave Cockrum’s design for the character from the comics, and honestly it’s a design that meshes pretty darn well with the established aesthetics of the later run Super Powers figures, which only further added to him feeling like a Kenner original character.  The sculpt is, honestly, not the strongest work from this line.  While the proportions and general build are okay, he feels oddly devoid of smaller details, and generally just very basic and kind of geometric. The head’s certainly the best part, with a lot more texturing, notably on the hair, as well as a little more definition in his face.  The body, on the other hand, is weaker.  His posing is very stiff and flat, and it’s not helped by the rather boxy nature of the right arm, which also feels like it sits too low?  I don’t know.  Said right arm is also home to the figure’s action feature.  Squeezing his legs raises the arm and shoots the missile portion.  It’s a basic feature, but more nuanced in how it works, since it doesn’t use any exposed buttons of levers.  Honestly, this part’s actually really cool, so props to Kenner on that.  His color work is pretty much point for point what he looks like in the comics.  It does what is needs to.  There’s a bit of bleed over on some of the smaller line-work, but it generally looks good.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I, like many other people, only know of Tyr’s existence because of this toy.  And that’s pretty crazy, because my dad’s a pretty huge Legion fan who absolutely owned Tyr’s earliest appearances when I was growing up.  I remember seeing him in the line-up on the Super Powers Archive, and, well, I can’t say he ever impressed me terribly.  He was one of those far away figures I don’t know if I ever really saw myself owning.  And then, suddenly, he was one of the last three I didn’t have.  And, now, here he is.  My dad got him for me for Christmas, as has become the tradition, and he got here a little late (as has also become a tradition, I guess), so he was officially my first figure of the new year.  He’s, like, fine.  That’s really it.  Fine.  Like, it’s cool to own him, and he’s the first Legion toy, so I guess that’s neat.  And, admittedly, the missile firing bit is fun.  So I’ll give them that.  But the actual figure is sort of just fine.  Still, I’m glad to own him, and he’s cool on the shelf.  And now I just need two more, with the caveat that my visual line-up is complete, because I do have stand-ins for Cyborg and Mr. Freeze.

#3984: Deadpool

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

DEADPOOL

X-FORCE (TOY BIZ)

“Deadpool is a mercenary and one of the world’s most dangerous assassins. What makes Deadpool so dangerous is not his super-silent tracking ability or his assassin’s arsenal of incredible weapons, it’s his ability to paralyze his victims with fear. He enjoys doing that so much that sometimes he lets his victim go. A panic-stricken live victim, he reasons, does wonders for his reputation.”

Can you believe there was a time in the Marvel universe before Deadpool?  That seems crazy, doesn’t it?  Would you also believe that when he *did* finally appear, it was literal years before he was even remotely close to the character that everyone knows him as now? The bio for his very first action figure, shown up top there, really cements that, referring to him as “super-silent” and having the “ability to paralyze his victims with fear.”  Not really the slap-sticky, fourth wall-breaking meme guy we have these days, huh?  Well, let’s just fully commit to this back to the beginning approach for Deadpool and take a look at his very first action figure, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Deadpool was released in Series 1 of Toy Biz’s X-Force line, which spun out of their main X-Men line during its second year.  While the book was still relatively new, they had already started to identify its break out characters, hence the early presence of Deadpool, despite him at that time just being a recurring character, not affiliated with the team.  The figure stands just under 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  Not a bad set-up in terms of movement.  It’s all basic stuff, but it’s pretty clear in its range, and he’s fairly sturdy on his feet.  He was a unique sculpt, which wound up re-used for a couple of repaints over the years, but only ever for Deadpool.  It’s based on his earliest appearances, although, like Cable, it’s been kind of cleaned up from Liefeld’s usual inconsistencies.  Deadpool was still being shown as very svelte in is early appearances, and this sculpt follows that lead.  He’s generally light on detailing, but gets his pouches and straps, albeit with a slightly softer detailing to them than later offerings.  He’s got a dagger permanently attached to his left hand, which is spring-loaded, so he can more convincingly look like he’s stabbing someone, I guess?  Deadpool’s color work is fairly basic, but generally well in line with his comics look at the time.  Interestingly, while the circles around his eyes are black, the rest of the costume’s accenting is done with a very dark grey, which makes for a neat bit of visual pop.  There was an FAO Schwarz-exclusive variant (pictured at the end) which just made it all black, which is *fine* but feels a bit more lacking, as well as a KB Toys re-release that adds in some silver elements on the pouches.  Whatever the release, Deadpool is packed with a pair of grey swords.  They’re able to be put in the sheaths…in a manner of speaking; they’re actually just going through his shoulders into the hollow portion of the torso, and they still end up being kind of comedically small to make it work.  It does look pretty cool when they’re in place, though.  It’s amusing that they’re both removable, though, since only one of his hands is able to hold one.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This was not my first Deadpool (that was the unmasked one from later), but I do recall wanting to track one down rather early on in my collecting.  I found a loose on some time in the very early ‘00s, which I assumed was the original, but would only later find out was actually the rarer FAO version, necessitating that I get a proper Series 1 release many years later when it got traded into All Time.  I’m a real sucker for this mold, no matter which paint scheme it’s sporting.  Something about it just really works for my collecting sensibilities, and it’s all I really want out of a Deadpool.  He’s basic, but he really just works.

#3983: Wedge Antilles

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

WEDGE ANTILLES

STAR WARS: ACTION COLLECTION (KENNER)

I’ve mentioned more than once around here the strange occurrence of my favorite Star Wars character being Wedge Antilles, a rather minor player from the Original Trilogy, who’s most notable for being named on screen, actually appearing in all three films, and being the only person to participate in both Death Star runs.  He’s got a fair bit going on in the expanded universe, so you might think that’s why I’m attached, but no, I just like him from the short bits he’s in the movies. I know.  Weird.  He’s one of those characters that has a decent number of figures, but not so many so as to make it impossible to own them all, which is always fun as a collector.  So, here’s one I haven’t looked at before!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wedge Antilles was released in 1998 as part of Kenner’s Star Wars: Action Collection, which served as the 12-inch scale component of the Power of the Force run.  He was sold in a two-pack with fellow X-Wing pilot Biggs Darklighter, which was exclusive to FAO Schwarz.  He’s based on his look from A New Hope, hence the inclusion alongside Biggs.  The figure stands about 12 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation, as well as those kind of pointless ratchet joints on his knees.  He’s got sort of a combination of a couple of the bodies Kenner used for Action Collection.  He has the improved upper torso with the waist and elbow joints, but lacks the proper articulated legs that some of the later single release figures got.  It means he can sort of pose, but not a lot.  He got a new head sculpt, which looks as much like Dennis Lawson as any of the ‘90s 12-inch figures looked like their respective actors, so it’s at least consistent with the other stuff.  You can generally tell who it’s meant to be, even if it is perhaps a bit soft.  His outfit, which was entirely shared with Biggs, consists of a jumpsuit, vest, web gear, boots, and gloves.  The boots, gloves, and web gear are sculpted elements, and generally look alright, though the gloves are quite bulky around the wrists.  The rest of it’s fabric, and it does alright.  It’s very loose and thick, and kind of shapeless, but that’s what these figures looked like.  Mine’s got some light staining on the back.  At one point, he had a helmet, which was another sculpted piece, but mine lacks that.  Paint is minor, and pretty much confined to the head.  His hair’s light for Wedge, but that’s about it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been slowly accumulating Wedges for a while, and this was one I didn’t have, largely because I’ve never wanted to shell out for the whole two-pack, because I don’t need a Biggs.  This one in particular made his way into my stocking this Christmas, with an assist by my wife Rachel, who had been informed it was a Wedge I didn’t own (by me).  These figures are far from the high-end collectibles we’ve come to expect of sixth scale figures, but they have their charm in a way.  I remember the line rather fondly, and I’m happy to have Wedge, because it means I don’t really need to dive back into the line further than just him.  Still, a Wedge I don’t have is always a cool thing to me.

#3982: Fluttering Arthur

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

FLUTTERING ARTHUR

THE TICK (BANDAI)

“Not in the face!  Not in the face!”

A super hero with a solid sidekick is always a great thing.  Obviously, there’s the classic dynamic duo of Batman and Robin, but one of my very favorites has always been the Tick and his sidekick Arthur.  Arthur debuted fairly early in the Tick comics, and is one of the few characters to follow Tick through all of his adaptations, which included every episode of the ‘90s cartoon, which netted him a handful of figures, one of which I’m looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Fluttering Arthur was released in Series 1 of Bandai’s The Tick toyline.  The figure stands just under 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  As this is Bandai’s American division’s work, scale’s not exactly their main forte.  As such, Arthur’s rather large relative to the Ticks in the same line.  He’s still physically shorter, of course, but not by nearly as much as he should be, and his general scaling is also just a lot larger than it should be.  But, it is what it is, and 30 years after the fact, it’s kind of quaint.  The actual sculpt is honestly not bad.  He’s very preposed, which is a little odd, but otherwise pretty faithful to the show’s animation models for the character.  He’s a slightly more reserved Arthur than we frequently saw in the show, where he was dealing with the Tick’s many antics, but this look is ultimately a bit better for a more general figure look.  In terms of color work, Arthur’s always pretty easy, since he’s just a lot of white.  The figure actually goes mostly for an off-white, which is all molded plastic.  It works out better in the long-run, since he’s not all yellowed now.  It also means his goggles can be an actual proper white, which helps them stand out a bit better, even if they are a little fuzzy around the edges.  He’s also got paint on his face and hands, which likewise has some fuzz on the edges, but is at least pretty clean and consistent in its application.  Arthur gets no accessories, but does get an action feature that draws on the “Fluttering” part of his name.  Pushing the button on his back makes his wings “flap,” which is amusing enough, and also pretty non-intrusive.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The saga of me getting this figure goes back to the early ‘90s, when he was still new.  At the time, Tick was on the air, but I didn’t watch it religiously or anything.  But, it was super hero fare, and I liked that, so I’d seen a few episodes, which was enough to know that I liked Arthur quite a bit.  Shortly before my birthday, my Nana took me to the store to get some ideas for gifts, and I saw this guy, and said I wanted him, specifically him, and not any of the others.  Here’s the thing about my Nana and gifts: she had a tendency to decide to buy me a more extravagant gift than I’d asked for, which was nice and generous, but also meant she got me something that simply wasn’t what I wanted.  So, instead of getting the standard Arthur figure, I unwrapped….the 14-inch deluxe talking Tick figure.  Which was cool, but it wasn’t an Arthur, nor was there an Arthur to go with it (I later made my own Arthur by wrapping a 12-inch Robin figure in masking tape).  So, I was without an Arthur for a while.  And, while these figures aren’t rare by any means, they don’t land in front of me nearly as often as other things, so I never did get one.  That is, until I unwrapped this guy on Christmas morning, courtesy of my son Matthew (with an assist from my wife Rachel).  I saw him at a comic con a few weeks ago, and they circled back around to get him for me, which was very nice.  He’s basic and goofy, but very much my vibe, and I’m happy to finally have one after all these years.  But, I fear I now must track down so many more of these figures…

#3981: Superman

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

SUPERMAN

SUPERMAN (SPIN MASTER)

Okay, I kicked off a new year of writing reviews yesterday with a look at something old, but how about something new?  Yeah, let’s do that!  And, in a time honored tradition for my January reviews, I’m jumping into the post-Christmas season with some items I got over the holiday.  My favorite movie from last year was Superman, and that’s something that was no secret to my friends and family.  I’ve been steadily acquiring a lot of versions of David Corenswet in the title role, in all manner of styles.  Today, I move away from the collector stylings, and lean heavier into proper toy coverage.  Let’s have a look at this here Superman!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superman is part of Spin Master’s overarching Superman tie-in product line from 2025.  This one is from the largest of the scales they offered, the 12-inch line, which featured Supes and the three members of the Justice Gang, who appear to have all been sold as singles and in one boxed set together.  This one is the single, but the figures are the same.  The figure stands 12 inches tall and he has 17 points of articulation.  Compared to other lines of this scale and style, the articulation scheme here is actually quite nice.  Hasbro always goes really basic on the Titan Heroes range, but Clark gets knees and elbows, and wrists.  Honestly, the only thing I really think could make a difference is a waist, and even so, he does fine without it, given the price range.  Superman’s sculpt is unique, and it’s pretty decent at that.  The likeness on the head is really strong, looking even more like Corenswet than the McFarlane figure did.  The detailing on the hair is a little on the softer side, but the face is pretty crisp.  The body sculpt is likewise a little soft, but there’s some impressive texture work on the suit.  His cape is a cloth piece, in a similar fashion to their smaller scale figures, but mounted in a better way at the shoulders.  It’s a decent enough fabric, hangs okay, and he’s even got his “S” insignia printed on the back.  Superman’s color work, much like the McFarlane figure, is a little darker than in the final film, which looks to be a concept thing, more than anything.  The paint work is alright.  The eyes and eyebrows are printed, which adds a lifelike quality to the figure.  The more general application is a bit on the sloppy side, with a fair bit of bleed over in several different spots.  None of it’s terrible, and you won’t really notice it with a quick glance.  Superman is without any accessories, which isn’t much of a surprise for this type of figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This Superman was a Christmas gift given to me by my daughter Aubrey.  She’s a huge Superman fan herself, and she’s watched the movie with me a great many times at home since its release.  Her mom took her out, and this was the item she ultimately arrived at, which isn’t too shocking, I suppose.  Obviously, it’s not the sort of figure I’d buy for myself, but that doesn’t make him bad at all.  In fact, I continue to be pleasantly surprised by the quality of Spin Master’s offerings relative to their pricing.  Yes, he’s a “cheap” figure, but he’s better than you might expect, and just a neat basic Superman figure.

#3980: Cable

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

CABLE

X-FORCE (TOY BIZ)

“Cable is the touch, no-nonsense leader of X-Force. A half-man, half-machine cyborg, Cable uses his bio-mechanical eye, arm and leg to see and do things impossible for anyone else-including other mutants. When the fighting gets tough, Cable knows from bitter experience, only two things can save X-Force-teamwork, and his own high-tech weaponry!”

Welcome everyone to a brand new year here at The Figure in Question!  I’m back and refreshed from my Christmas break…well, I’m back from my Christmas break, at the very least.

Waaaaaaaaaay back last year (or, you know, like, three weeks ago), a faithful reader brought up to me that, for all my Toy Biz Marvel reviews, somehow I hadn’t reviewed a single Cable figure from their run.  Which is, quite frankly, insane, because they made, like, a lot of  Cable figures.  So, the first thing I’m doing in my return to Toy Biz for the new year is fix this glaring Cable-shaped hole in my Toy Biz reviewing, and take a look at their first go at the guy.  Here he is!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cable was released in the very first series of Toy Biz’s X-Force line, which spun out of their X-Men line during its second year.  As the central character in the comics, obviously Cable needed a spot in the debut line-up.  This would also wind up as his very first action figure, and a pretty quick turn around for a guy who’d only shown in the comics two years prior.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  His articulation scheme is…well, they were sort of working out the basics here, and he hits *fairly* close, but for whatever reason, his left shoulder is a hinge that just goes outward, rather than offering any forward and back.  It’s an odd set-up, but there it is.  He was an all-new sculpt, based on his more solidified look from X-Force proper, albeit as solidified as any of Liefeld’s designs ever really got.  The X-Force line wound up advancing in technical sculpting at a quicker pace than X-Man, but this first round was still definitely more like the Marvel Super Heroes and earlier X-Men than anything Toy Biz did later.  This Cable is definitely a little thinner, stretched out, and softer on the details than later figures would be.  Given Liefeld’s love of crosshatching, he feels downright squeaky clean.  His color work is kind of the same vibe as the sculpt, being quite clean, and broad, and sort of going soft on a lot of the details.  It does what it needs to generally, though.  There were two variations to the paint.  Originally, the boots and leg straps were a lighter grey, and his yellow eye glowed in the dark, but later versions darkened the boots and leg straps, and dropped the gimmick on the eye.  Neither is all that notable on its own, but rather is more evident if you happen to have the both right in front of you.  Both versions included the same very large gun, which can be held in the left hand, and has a rotating barrel that makes a clicking sound when you spin it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

By the time I got into collecting, this version of Cable was long gone from shelves, so I didn’t have this one as a kid.  The initial release somehow found its way into my collection over the years…twice.  Like, I don’t even know how.  I don’t remember buying him either time, but I wound up with two of them, so, you know, that’s fun, I guess.  I wound up getting the color variant through some good old fashioned bartering.  My granddad hoarded all sorts of old tech in his basement, and a guy wanted to take some of it for cosplay and set building, so he traded me, amongst other things, two Toy Biz figures, which happened to include the Cable variant, which I didn’t already have.  This figure’s goofy for sure.  Definitely not Toy Biz’s strongest take on the guy, which is kind of a shame, since it’s sort of his most distinctive look.  He does have a certain charm to him, so I’ll give him that.

#3979: Mandalorian Warrior – Holiday Edition

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

MANDALORIAN WARRIOR — HOLIDAY EDITION

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

Twas the night day before Christmas…for the people reading this.  It’s sometime the week before Christmas my time, because I wrote this in advance so as to go easy on myself in preparation for the holiday.  I’m trying to be nice to me like that. And I appreciate it, I assure me.  The last few years, my festively-themed reviews have centered on Hasbro’s admittedly kind of hokey Holiday Star Wars: The Black Series figures, which they skipped doing last year.  There are new ones this year, but I didn’t end up snagging them, so I’m falling back on an older one again this year.  Let’s get festive and look at the Mandalorian Warrior…Holiday style!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Holiday Edition Mandalorian Warrior is one of the 2022 Holiday Star Wars: The Black Series figures.  He was number 4 out of the 6 released and was available exclusively at Target.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  All of the Holiday figures are repaints, and this guy in particular is a reuse of the Clone Wars era Mandalorian Loyalist from 2020, who was of course himself a re-use of a lot of parts from Jango Fett.  By 2022, this was a rather dated mold, so it was kind of crazy to see them trot it out again, but I guess a repaint’s a repaint.  While more recent years have gotten more inventive with their color schemes and holiday themes, the first two years pretty much just decked everyone out in garish holiday colors, and threw a tacky Christmas sweater detail on the front of the chest.  This guy specifically gets the Manalorian sigil, as well as a pair of helmets.  Honestly, the whole thing doesn’t look too awful, and I do quite like the chest pattern.  The Mando is packed with a long rifle in Nerf-style colors, and a recolor of the Bogling creature mold, which I don’t think got much use.  Bafflingly, despite the mold’s sculpted holsters, he doesn’t include any blasters that can fit in said holsters, which is annoying, but also not the first time it’s happened with these figures, so I guess it’s just a quirk that you have to accept.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve never gone out of my way to find any of these guys, and in 2022, I was able to get the Protocol Droid through work, so I just figured that was good enough for the season.  That said, a bunch of these got traded in loose throughout the years that followed, and I picked them up as they caught my eye.  I’m a sucker for the hokey, gimmicky nature, and love having something silly to drag out with the decorations every year.  This one’s not really noteworthy within the whole set-up, but he’s still fun.

#3978: Superman

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

SUPERMAN

JLA (HASBRO)

“Though genetically an alien conceived on the planet Krypton, Superman is an American by birth, born in a Kansas cornfield. Through his deeds, Superman has become earth’s preeminent super hero. Time and again, he has proven himself a true hero, capable of whatever bravery and self-sacrifice is necessary to right a wrong or save a life. The guiding force behind the Justice League and the example of metahumans across the globe, Superman’s existence has changed the world forever.”

It shouldn’t seem odd to read a Superman bio, but this one’s notable for directly referencing the ship actually “birthing” Clark on Earth, which was introduced during John Byrne’s Man of Steel reboot.  Like a great many things introduced during that reboot, it’s the sort of thing that got quietly dropped, but it was still the official cannon when this figure was released.  Even a regular, normal, classic Superman still gets a little bit of weirdness in the ‘90s, huh?  Well, let’s jump into another JLA review!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superman was released in the second series of Hasbro’s JLA line, which, if I’m recalling correctly, is the first one actually branded from Hasbro, rather than Kenner.  He was also in the line’s third boxed set.  This was the fourth Superman in the line, making him the most numerous character in the line at that point (Batman would catch up with him by the end of it).  It’s also the first “normal” comic Superman, in, like, a decade, since Man of Steel and Total Justice were both while he was still sporting the mullet, and JLA launched while he was still in the midst of the the Blue/Red storyline.  It was a big deal, for sure.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Like the last three Supermen from this line, this figure was re-using the body of his Total Justice counterpart.  Unlike the last three, however, he also re-uses that figure’s cape.  His head is…well, it’s hard to tell if its new here, or elsewhere.  It was used both here and on the battle-damaged version of the character released alongside Metallo in a Hasbro Toy Shop-exclusive two-pack under the DC Super Heroes banner, in rather close proximity.  It would also be used on the armored Superman from this line’s last assortment.  In all three cases, it replaced a mulleted Superman head.  It’s not a bad sculpt, but ultimately feels a little bit off model for Superman as he was typically depicted at the time.  The shaping of the face seems a bit more rounded, and the hair lacks the typical s-curl, favoring a more general swoop in the front.  I remember it was used by a number of customizers at the time as an Elongated Man head, and I can very definitely see that.  Superman’s color work is pretty basic, modern era classic Superman coloring stuff.  The blue is on the darker side, which isn’t my preferred, but is accurate to how he was depicted at the time.  The paint on all of the JLA figures felt really prone to damage, but Superman was especially so.  The paint tends to chip, and the flesh tones are almost gummy, to the point that his cape is actually fused at the neck on my figure.  Superman included a JLA display stand in blue, same as Martian Manhunter from the same assortment.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure was a big deal back in the day, because it really had been forever since we’d gotten a short-haired comic Superman, and it was certainly never in this style.  I recall him not being especially easy to find for this very reason.  I ended up getting him, probably in ’99 or ’00, from the Balticon dealer’s room, which typically had *nothing* in the way of toys, but that particular year had Superman and a Toy Biz Robin on a dealer’s table, both of which came home with me.  I liked this one a lot, and he got a lot of playtime, which only contributed to the wear and tear to his paint (which I’ve since done a little bit of restoring to).  In retrospect, that head doesn’t feel very Superman-y, but I was just so happy to have a classic Superman at all, that it didn’t bug me all that much.