Category Archives: Reviews

#0938: Action Marine

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

ACTION MARINE

GI JOE: CLASSIC COLLECTION– KEYCHAINS (FUN 4 ALL)

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1994 marked the 30th Anniversary of the original G.I. Joe figures. At the time, G.I. Joe was in a bit of an odd spot. The 3 ¾ inch line had started to die down, but the 12 inch line had not yet come back in full force. To celebrate the anniversary, Hasbro sort of combined the two, releasing the original 12-inch Joes, but this time in the smaller scale. Four years later, Fun 4 All, perhaps one of the only not-Hasbro-companies to ever do G.I. Joe toys, made use of Hasbro’s molds to produce a line of keychains…sort of. Yes, they had the key chain bits attached, but by-and-large, this felt like an excuse for Fun 4 All to produce a set of G.I. Joe figures. And why not? Well, let’s have a look at one of the “keychains” they produced, the Action Marine.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Marine2 (2)The Action Marine was one of the four keychains offered in Fun 4 All’s G.I. Joe: Classic Collection – Keychains line, offered starting 1998. All four keychains were fully articulated figures, which a detachable keychain piece (which is missing from my Action Marine. You can clearly see my main interest in these). The figure is 3 ¾ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. The sculpt of this figure is a slightly altered version of Hasbro’s Action Marine from 1994. The only real difference between the two (apart from the slightly lower quality of the plastic used by Fun 4 All) is the addition of a loop between the shoulder blades to allow for the keychain’s attachment. The overall sculpt isn’t bad. He’s more or less on par with any of the vintage 3 3/4-inch Joes. Some pieces of the sculpt seem a bit more rudimentary, most noticeably the shoulders, which don’t mesh together organically. In addition, the lower quality of the plastic means that some of the finer details from the original sculpt are lost, which gives him all around simpler look. Still, he’s far from horrible; certainly better than some other figures in the scale. In addition to the step down in plastic quality, there’s also a step down in the quality of the paint. It’s still not bad, mind you. The colors are appropriate, and the level of detail on the camo is decent. However, the paint has a tendency to chip, especially on the hands, and the application is rather on the sloppy side. The Action Marine included no accessories (beyond the detachable keychain, if you’re inclined to count that). A rifle or something would have been nice, but these were relatively low-price, so it’s not a shock.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When I was younger, I went in and out of periods of being into G.I. Joe. The earliest Joe I can remember getting for myself was actually one of these keychains, but it wasn’t the Marine, it was the Sailor. I ended up getting the Marine a few years later from a KB Toys (KB pretty much kept these guys in stock until they went out of business). I never really had any particular affinity to him, but he just sort of stuck with me. He actually got left at my Grandparents house for several years, and I found him a few months back while doing some cleaning. He’s not one of my favorites, and he won’t really be winning any awards, but he’s got a certain charm to him.

#0937: Doctor Fate

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

DOCTOR FATE

DC’s NEW FRONTIER (DC DIRECT)

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Over the weekend, it was announced that artist Darwyn Cooke had passed away. While Mr. Cooke may not necessarily have been a household name, his body of work was nothing short of amazing, and his death is a huge loss to the comics community. Cooke spent most of his career working for DC Comics. A lot of his work was used for promotional purposes, but he did have a few prominent runs, as well as several one-shots and miniseries. Perhaps his greatest work was his Elseworlds project DC’s New Frontier, a love letter to late Golden Age and early Silver Age stories from the company. It was successful enough to get an animated adaptation through Warner Brothers, and even got a two series line of figures from DC Direct. In honor of Darwyn Cooke’s legacy, I’ll be looking at my personal favorite figure from that line, Doctor Fate.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

DrFate2Doctor Fate was part of the second series of New Frontier figures from DC Direct. His inclusion in the series was a bit of a shock, since the character doesn’t really have a very prominent role in the comic. Of course, neither did Series 1’s Black Hawk, so perhaps DCD just wanted to have one oddball choice per series. It’s also possible that the figure was requested by Cooke, as is known to happen with lines based on one specific artist’s work. Whatever the case, I don’t think anyone complained about his inclusion in the line. Doctor Fate is about 6 ½ inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation. That’s not a whole lot of movement, but it wasn’t bad for a DCD figure of the time. He’s not going to be getting into any major action poses, but the arms and head offer a pretty good range of possibilities. The figure is, obviously, based on Cooke’s illustrations of Doctor Fate from the comics. He’s not far removed from the classic Doctor Fate; in place of the usual flared gloves, he has a pair of wrist bands. It preserves all the classic Fate styling a, while still adding a nice flair of originality to the design. While some of the other figures in this line exhibited a little bit of difficulty translating Cooke’s style into three dimensions, Doctor Fate’s sculpt does a pretty fantastic job. Something about his general design just really DrFate3brings out the best of Cooke’s work, and results in a really sharp looking figure. The hands have unique posing (I especially love the right hand) and the cape has some of the best flow I’ve seen in a sculpted cape, but the best part of the sculpt is the head. The helmet is a separate piece, though it’s not removable (well, not intentionally, anyway). The use of a separate piece allows for a fully sculpted set of eyes to be visible beneath the helmet, which adds an incredible amount of depth to the figure. Even without there being a whole head below the helmet, the appearance is there. Doctor Fate’s paint work is pretty strong. The colors are well chosen, and nicely match up with the color palette of the books. The application is nice and clean. There isn’t much accent work, but that feels true to the comics. Doctor Fate’s only accessory was a display stand, which was the same stand included with all the New Frontier figures.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Doctor Fate, along with the rest of Series 2 of New Frontier, was a Christmas gift from my parents. Amusingly enough, though he’s my favorite figure from the set, he was the one figure in the Series I wasn’t sure I wanted. I’m happy to say I was wrong, and he’s remained not only my favorite New Frontier figure, but also my favorite version of Doctor Fate (which isn’t as simple a task as you might think).

#0936: Silver Centurion Iron Man & Crimson Dynamo

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

IRON MAN – SILVER CENTURION & CRIMSON DYNAMO

MARVEL MINIMATES

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Hey, how ‘bout another Minimates review? Yeah, that’d be nice, wouldn’t it? And it’s even a Marvel review! I certainly haven’t had many of those recently! Riiiiiiight…

Iron Man is undoubtedly one of the biggest name characters in Marvel’s pantheon now, but that wasn’t always the case. Prior to his first movie, there were only five Iron Men in the whole Minimates line, and absolutely none of his foes were represented. Even with the success of Iron Man, Tony wouldn’t get his own comic-themed series until the release of Iron Man 2, which brought us not only some important armor updates, but also some of Tony’s most prominent foes. Today, I’ll be looking at Silver Centurion Iron Man and longtime foe Crimson Dynamo.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This pair was released in Series 36 of Marvel Minimates. As noted above, the series was released in the summer of 2010 to coincide with Iron Man 2’s release.

IRON MAN – SILVER CENTURION

IMSilvCentDyna2After sticking with more or less the same look for about 20 years, (and then giving said look to James Rhodes after Tony developed a bit of a drinking problem) Tony decided to mix it up and go silver in 1985. While the armor wasn’t incredibly long-lived (lasting about three years real-world time), its rather unique design, and its place in the “Armor Wars” storyline have helped to make it rather memorable. This is actually the second incarnation of this design in the Minimates form. The first was a Previews exclusive, and was from much earlier in the line, so the update was certainly warranted. The figure stands about 2 ¼ inches tall and has 12 points of articulation. He’s built on the usual body, with add-on pieces for his helmet, gloves, belt, and boots. All of these are new pieces, and they do a pretty great job of translating the design from the comics. The helmet is slightly too short for the head, but not terribly so. What’s weird is that the prior Silver Centurion had the same issue, despite they two using two different helmet pieces. Aside from that, he’s pretty great, though. The paint on this guy’s pretty strong. The metallic are in full play, and they make him look really sleek. He’s got a bit of detailing on the faceplate and torso, which look nice. Under the helmet is a full Tony Stark face, which has more than a passing resemblance to Timothy Dalton. To aid in showing off the Tony face, the figure includes a spare hair piece, which has been re-used from Series 31’s Captain Marvel. It’s a pretty pitch-perfect match for Tony’s look from the time, so that’s good.

CRIMSON DYNAMO

IMSilvCentDyna3Dynamo gets my vote for best Iron Man villain, if I’m being honest. That’s probably part of why I wasn’t super wowed by Iron Man 2, since it kind of smashed him together with Whiplash and gave us that weird Mickey Rourke character that graced the screen. I’m kinda still hoping to see a proper Dynamo at some point. At least I got a Minimate out of the deal! This figure’s based on Dmitri Bukharin, the fifth incarnation of Dynamo, who’s probably the most definitive of the possible choices, since he was Dynamo during both “Demon in a Bottle” and “Armor Wars,” and his armor is considered the classic Dynamo armor. The figure has add-ons for the helmet, chest armor, gauntlets, and boots. He’s a bit chunky, but that’s pretty appropriate for this incarnation (and most other incarnations) of the character. There’s some pretty cool details in those parts, and the re-use of the Widow’s Stingers from the Champions version of Black Widow is pretty clever. His paint’s mostly just metallic red up and down (as it should be), but he also has some nice detailing on the chest armor and the visor, as well as a full detailing on the underlying head and torso. The head is what makes it clear that it’s Dmitri; there’s no mistaking that mustache! He also includes an extra hairpiece, re-used from Egon Spengler. Dmitri was often shown bald, but it’s a nice inclusion nonetheless.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As with most Marvel Minimates, I got these guys from Cosmic Comix when they were first released. Series 36 was a series I had been looking forward to for quite some time, and this pair was part of why I was so invested in it. There are a few minor flaws here and there, but I remain very happy with this particular pair, and they’re two of my favorite Iron Man-themed ‘mates.

#0935: Umbreus

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

UMBREUS

WEAPONEERS OF MONKAA

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I like toys that are just fun toys for the sake of being fun toys. That’s why Weaponeers of Monkaa has been a favorite line of mine since its start back in 2012. The line is patterned thematically after several successful toylines of the ‘80s, and its primary focus is playability and interchangeability. The line is also super awesome and highly addictive, which is why I have an army of these little guys. Well, technically two armies, since there are two distinct factions of the Weaponeers: the heroic Gearo and the villainous Vilhain. Today, I’ll be looking at the treacherous leader of the Vilhain, Umbreus!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Umbreus2Umbreus was one of the first six Weaponeers of Monkaa figures who made up Series 1 of the line. He and the rest of the series were initially released at PowerCon 2012, and after the event they were offered via Spy Monkey’s online store. This figure represents Umbreus’ initial appearance, prior to gaining the “Bloodlust” powers or being reborn as the Golden Gohlem Midas. He stands about 4 inches tall and he has 19 points of articulation. Granted, that’s just in his default set-up; as with every WoM figure, he’s totally modular and breaks down into 22 different pieces, allowing you to build just about whatever you want. These parts are the same ones seen on every other WoM figure; if you’ve read one of my reviews, you’ve seen them before. They’re still a pretty selection of sculpted pieces, and it’s really impressive how smoothly they go together in so many different configurations. The figure’s default head is the Umbreus Umbreus3head, unsurprisingly. It’s actually my personal favorite of the five heads available. Something about it makes the overall aesthetic of the figure really pop. In his original form, Umbreus made no attempt to hide that he was a villain, making use of the classic comicbook villain combo of purple and green. Behold the evil purple and green! For the most part, Umbreus’ parts are just molded in the appropriate colors. The paint used for his faceplate is pretty well handled, and unlike later figures, every piece of Umbreus has a little bit of dark grey accent work to bring out his sculpted details. Umbreus was initially packed with the standard sickle and straight blade accessories, as well as the Brutok and Empyreus heads done up in Umbreus’ colors and a pair of Gohlem heads (which double as fists). There was also an extra pack of heads available for the first series figures, which added a Palidar head in Umbreus colors to the mix.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Umbreus is actually the figure that sold me on the whole Weaponeers of Monkaa line. When reviews started popping up for the first series, I thought they looked cool, but I wasn’t sold 100%. Then I saw Umbreus and knew I at least wanted him. So he, Brutok, and the head pack ended up being my first purchase from the line. To date, he’s still one of my favorite entries in the line, and he’s still a whole lot of fun!

#0934: Black Costume Spider-Man

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

SPIDER-MAN – BLACK COSTUME

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (TOY BIZ)

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EDIT: Sorry for the late post everyone!  For some reason, this post had its date set to February 13 instead of May 13. But it’s here now!

As much as it may seem that Hasbro is releasing Marvel’s most prominent characters in every possible format they can think of, the ‘Bro has nothing on their predecessor’s at Toy Biz. Over the course of their 15-year run with the license, Toy Biz offered the Marvel heroes in 12 distinct scales (to say nothing of having a wide variety of styles within those scales). Towards the end of their run making Marvel toys, they spun a few of their more successful 6-inch lines into 12-inch lines. This included their Amazing Spider-Man line. While the larger line was somewhat limited in scope (there were only 6 figures, and 3 of them were Spider-Man), it did manage to produce a few pretty cool figures, such as today’s focus, the Black Costume Spider-Man.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

BlackCostumeSpidey2Black Costume Spider-Man was released as part of the 12-inch Amazing Spider-Man line in 2006. The line didn’t really have any proper series structure; figures were just sort of added as they went. This particular figure was one of the very last figures added to the line, alongside the House of M version of Spider-Man. The figure stands just over 12 inches tall and has 33 points of articulation (a fact his package proudly boasted. Toy Biz was big on that at the time). Marvel Legends Icons, the 12-inch counterpart to Marvel Legends, was constructed exactly like the smaller figures, just at a larger scale, which gave the figures a certain degree of heft. Amazing Spider-Man, on the other hand, made use of rotocast parts (i.e. hollow) to keep the cost of the figures lower. This results in the figure being surprisingly lightweight, and a bit less sturdy than other figures. However, this figure is hardly fragile, and it’s worth noting that only about half of this figure is actually rotocast. The sculpt of this figure was shared with the House of M figure as well. It was a noticeable improvement over the prior Spider-Man from the line in terms of movement and detailing. The whole thing has this kinda cool orange peel-style texturing to it, which is a nice change from all the totally smooth Spideys out there. The proportions are a bit out there, but it’s Spider-Man, so there’s some room for exaggeration, and he’s certainly no more out of whack than any other Toy Biz Spider-Man. His paint work is fairly basic. They’ve foregone any sort of accenting for the black, which is always a good choice in my book. The white’s a bit on the fuzzy side, presumably due to the texturing of the sculpt. It’s not terrible, but it definitely could be better.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember seeing just about every figure in this line when they were originally released. However, I never did get around to picking any of them up. This figure ended up being a rather random find: two weeks ago, I was out and about with my family and we stopped at a Goodwill. There was a bag of assorted action figures for $10, and I could make out this guy, so I bought it. Turns out he’s worth quite a bit more. Lucky me! The figure’s actually pretty cool, and it’s a shame he was one of the last in the line.

#0933: Orange and Green Blanks

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TRANSLUCENT ORANGE & GREEN BLANKS

PROMO MINIMATES

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The Minimates brand is most often associated with the various licenses that Diamond Select has applied its definitive style to. However, as part of their ongoing efforts to get the brand as much recognition as possible, Diamond will occasionally produce promotional “blanks” to be handed out at their various convention appearances, typically the bigger shows, such as San Diego Comic-Con and C2E2. I’ve previously looked at the C2E2-exclusive Minimate Multiverse Blank, so today I’ll be looking at a pair from SDCC.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

SDCCY&G2Orange and Green were both given out at SDCC 2008. There was also a red blank available, but I don’t have that one. Both figures stand 2 ¼ inches tall, have 14 points of articulation, and make use of no pieces other than the standard Minimate body. The lack of add-ons makes for a nice showcase of the base body, which can sometimes be overlooked. That’s a shame, because it’s really a very well-crafted bit of work, and it’s just a whole lot of fun to play with. Many earlier blanks stuck with solid, opaque hues, but these two are both done up in translucent colors, which look really SDCCY&G3sharp. Unlike some translucent ‘mates, this pair appears to have been molded in colorless clear plastic and then had some sort of translucent coloring applied after the fact, which does a nice bit to preserve the luminosity of the plastic. They’re also really shiny, which makes them pretty slick. Aside from the colors, they don’t have any other paint; no logos or other details like some promo ‘mates. I think it makes them more enjoyable, if I do say so myself. Elegant simplicity and all that.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t go to SDCC 2008 (though I do own most of the ‘mates that DST offered there), so I got these two a few years later via Luke’s Toy Store. I hadn’t really planned on getting into the Promo ‘Mates, but I had gone far too long without buying any Minimates, so these two (as well as the later 2010 Blue Blank) got added to my order. I legit love these guys. They aren’t the sort of thing that would appeal to everyone, but they’re really cool to me. Despite the fact that they have no add-ons or printed details, they possess a lot of character and personality and remind me of why I like the Minimate aesthetic so much!

#0932: Masked Rider

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

MASKED RIDER

SABAN’S MASKED RIDER (BANDAI)

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The success of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers was somewhat of a shock to most. Like just about any unexpected success, it spawned a legion of knock-offs, all dedicated to aping the formula and capturing as much of that success as possible. Saban, the producers of Power Rangers, got in on the game themselves. They licensed the popular Japanese series Kamen Rider (specifically Kamen Rider Black RX) and, using pretty much the same formula they’d used with Power Rangers, created the somewhat blandly-named Masked Rider. It was not the breakaway-hit that Power Rangers had been, but it did get one 40-episode season, which isn’t so bad. It also got a line of toys from Bandai America, one of which is the subject of today’s review.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

MaskedRider2Masked Rider was released in 1996 as part of Bandai’s Saban’s Masked Rider line (Man, I wish I could get a few more possessives in there…) He was part of the smaller, 5-inch scale line, and is just the basic Masked Rider figure; no fancy gimmick or adjectives for this guy. The figure stands 5 ½ inches tall and has 12 points of articulation. While it might look like he’s got a neck joint, he actually doesn’t; the head is forever stuck staring straight-ahead. Now, why they gave his neck what looks like a super obvious joint where there in fact isn’t one is anyone’s guess. My personal guess is that it’s Bandai America, and they’ve never been particularly concerned with making particularly good action figures, but I could be wrong. The rest of the sculpt seems to support my theory there; it’s not that it’s a bad sculpt, but it doesn’t really look all that much like Masked Rider’s on-screen look, especially not in terms of proportions. His head, shoulders, and hands are way oversized, and the rest of his body quite undersized. His torso is also too squat and his legs too long. Overall, he looks like no human being ever should. In addition, none of the joints are particularly well worked-in, meaning the sculpt has a lot of stop and start going on, and he as a whole looks as if he’s been assembled from several different people. At the very least, the figure’s paint isn’t terrible. All the colors match his show-appearance, and everything is mostly pretty clean. There are a few spots with slop, but they’re mostly minor.  Masked Rider’s only accessory was his sword.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When I was younger, I watched pretty much the entirety of the “Fox Kids” lineup, which included the original run of Masked Rider. I enjoyed the show at the time (since I was rather into Power Rangers as well, and this show wasn’t all that different), so I got this guy while on a mall trip with my Grandmother. Neither the show nor this figure has held up very well. Still, he’s sort of a neat artifact of a time when I was a bit less discerning in my collecting habits, and if nothing else, the figure still amuses me.

#0931: Yukio, Viper, & Black Clan Ninjas

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

URBAN YUKIO, VIPER, & BLACK CLAN NINJAS

MARVEL MINIMATES

YukioViperNinjas1

It seems hard to believe that the second Wolverine film came out three years ago.  Wedged in between Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World, and as the last X-Men film before Days of Future Past overwrote the original timeline, it kind of got lost.  It’s a shame; it’s not a perfect film, but it was a fair bit of fun, and fixed a lot of issues presented by X-Men 3 and Wolverine: Origins.  The movie got a handful of Minimates, and today I’ll be looking at the specialty assortment’s Viper & Black Clan Ninja pack, as well as the variant Urban Yukio & Black Clan Ninja Pack.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two sets were released in Series 52 of Marvel Minimates, which was based on The Wolverine.

URBAN YUKIO

YukioNinja2Yukio is a relatively minor X-Men character, but she plays an important role in the Wolverine mini-series that the movie based its plot on, so she found herself with a decently sized role.  In the comics, she was just a normal human with ninja training, but the film made her a mutant with the ability to foresee death.  She had two rather distinct looks in the movie (neither of which really resembled her comics appearance).  This figure represents the less formal look that Yukio sports towards the end of the movie. She stands about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. Yukio has add-on pieces for her hair, skirt, and the tops of her boots.  All of these are re-used, with the hair coming from the TRU Series 9 Magik, the boots coming from Series 34’s 90s Rogue, and the skirt coming from BSG’s President Roslin.  The parts are all fairly decent matches for her look from the film, so the re-use is reasonable here, though the boots have the unintended side effect of making her taller than everyone else in the series. The paintwork on Yukio is decent.  She’s got a lot of color, and she’s pretty bold looking, which is nice.  The detailing on the torso is nice and sharp.  The face doesn’t really look like Rila Fukushima; for some reason, they’ve given her a slight smile, which doesn’t seem right for the character.  That said, the face is nice and sharp, and looks suitably unique. Yukio includes a clear display stand and…nothing else.  Not even a sword.  That’s quite a letdown, especially since Yukio is pretty much never seen without her sword in the film.

VIPER

ViperNinja5Viper was an interesting inclusion in The Wolverine, given that her most prominent role is being highly placed in Hydra, an organization that Fox isn’t allowed to use.  Fox seemed to skirt the issue by only referring to her only as Viper (not her alias Madame Hydra) and by making her a mutant, with no known ties to Hydra.  For this figure, DST based Viper on her look during Yashida’s funeral, which is a rather short-lived look when all is said and done, but we got several others in their funeral attire. Viper has two add-on pieces, one for her hair and one for her skirt.  The skirt is a re-use of the Gwen Stacy skirt from the SM3 series, which is still fairly modern looking.  The hair is a new piece, based on her hair from the scene in the film.  It’s a pretty great sculpt, with a lot of detail, and it captures her look very nicely. Viper’s  paint is overall is nicely handled, at least from a purely technical standpoint.  Everything’s pretty clean, and the line work is all pretty sharp.  The likeness is pretty good; certainly closer than Yukio.  The sunglasses stand out, as the details make them look convincingly shiny.  You can actually make out the reflection of some of the reflections from the funeral’s setting.  All that said, the design is rather drab and not terribly exciting. For accessories, Viper includes a clear display stand, and an extra head, without the sunglasses.

BLACK CLAN NINJAS

YukioNinja3The Black Clan Ninjas took the role occupied by the Hand in the original story.  They were initially supposed to be the Hand, but Fox lost the rights to Daredevil and all associated characters in the middle of production on The Wolverine, necessitating a quick name change.  It’s not like it really matters, though; they’re fairly basic ninjas either way. The Ninjas use add-on pieces for their jackets and the edges of their gloves.  The jacket is a new piece.  It has a scabbard attached to the back, so that they can stow their swords.  The jacket’s a little on the bulky side, but looks alright overall, and captures the basic look from the film pretty well. The paintwork on the Ninja is fairly basic.  It’s mostly just black, though there’s a bit of variation to the finish, which is nice.  The eyes feature an impressive level of detail, and add a nice bit of character, without removing the ability of the figure to be an army builder. The Ninjas each include a basic sword, which can be stowed in the sheath on their back, as well as the usual clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Yukio set was one of the ones I wanted from Series 52, but she ended up being a bit difficult to get, so I had to order a full series set from Luke’s Toy Store. This is probably Yukio’s most prominent look from the movie, and it has the advantage of being bright and colorful in a series of mostly drab figures.  However, the lack of accessories knocks her down a peg, and the likeness really isn’t there. Viper is certainly a well put together ‘mate, but the decision to go with her less exciting funeral look over her more comics accurate final battle look hurts the figure.  As it stands, she’s better than you’d expect, but still a bit lackluster. The Ninjas are really the stars of these sets.  They’re fairly simple, but in just the right way, and they benefit from the fact that you don’t even need to be a fan of The Wolverine to like them.

#0930: Waverider

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

WAVERIDER

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED

Waverider1Justice League Unlimited really pulled out all the stops when it came to obscure characters.  By most accounts, anytime they had a big crowd shot of heroes, they’d populate it by letting various crew members pick their favorite characters.  The end result was a rather eclectic selection of heroes, giving a brief spotlight to some of DC’s lowest tier characters.  And, thanks to Mattel’s corresponding line of tie-in figures, a lot of them lucked into their very first action figures.  One of those lucky guys was Waverider, whose big claim to fame is being the catalyst for DC’s “Armageddon 2001,” an event that was supposed to turn Captain Atom into one of the DCU’s big bads, but ended up going with Hawk instead.  To date, Waverider’s JLU figure is the only figure he’s received, but that’s not bad for a character that hasn’t been relevant since 1991.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Waverider2Waverider was released in the second series of Justice League Unlimited three-packs from Mattel.  He was packed with Flash and Hawkgirl, who were both re-releases of their single-release Justice League figures.  He also got a single release of his own later on in the line.  The figure stands just shy of 5 inches tall and has 4 points of articulation.  Technically, there’s a joint at the neck, but the way the hair is attached renders the joint motionless.  Waverider uses the mid-sized male body (used on figures such as Starman), with a unique head.  The head and hair are two separate pieces (allowing the flames of the hair to be molded in translucent plastic).  The head is fairly generic; he’s just a fairly average-looking bald guy, but he looks about like he should.  The hair is suitably energetic, and adds a nice bit of flair to him, though it always feels like it’s about to break off.  Paint always did the heavy lifting on the JLU line, and Waverider’s not an exception.  He’s honestly a bit drab.  In the comics, Waverider was always black and a yellow-ish gold, but here the gold has been swapped out for a washed-out yellow, that just doesn’t really pop.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The first series of JLU figures was rather difficult to find, so when I found the entire second series of them (Waverider included) while on vacation, my parents very kindly bought them for me (because they’re awesome like that).  At the time, I didn’t know the character at all, so it was fun getting to figure out who he was after the fact.  He’s not the most exciting figure of all time, but I have fond memories of getting him and his series mates.

#0929: Falcon & War Machine

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

FALCON & WAR MACHINE

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR MINIVERSE

WMFalcon1

So, Civil War was awesome. Just so everyone knows. And the movie being awesome has had the added effect of making me enjoy those toys I picked up before the movie even more. One of my favorite recent additions to the MCU is the Falcon, who has been criminally absent from the toy world. Fortunately, he’s gotten a few different figures from the first round of Civil War products. For the smaller scale line, he’s packed with Iron Man’s best pal James Rhodes (better known as War Machine), who’s been no stranger to toys.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two are another set from the first series of the Captain America: Civil War Miniverse line. They’re probably one of the most sensible pairings so far, since these two serve as parallels thematically for a lot of the movie.

FALCON

WMFalcon3Falcon is suitably kick ass in this movie, so I’m glad he’s got a figure already. This marks the first time he’s been released in this scale, since he was one of the few characters from AoU not to get a figure from the smaller scale line. The figure is 2 ¾ inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation (thanks to his moving wings). He’s wearing his more streamlined gear from Civil War, which is definitely my favorite look of his so far. His sculpt is quite nicely handled; he translates the design to the smaller scale very nicely, and he’s got lots of great detailing. Like some of the others in the series, he’s sculpted mid-step, which is a little odd, but actually works out well for Falcon, as it helps to offset the weight of his wings. His wings are separate pieces; they’re pretty nicely sculpted, but they do have a tendency to pop out of place from time to time. The paintwork on Falcon is decent, but like a lot of the other figures, he’s missing more than a few details. Of course, Falcon’s additional details aren’t quite as essential as, say, Captain America’s, so he’s far less negatively impacted. Falcon is the figure in this pair who gets the weird armor thingy. Falcon’s is, if I’m honest, my favorite of these weird, absurd things that I’ve gotten so far, because it actually does feel like an extension of Falcon’s normal gear. It’s still weird and all, especially with the shoulder guns that point two different directions, but noticeably less weird than the others.

WAR MACHINE

WMFalcon2War Machine was one of the characters to get a smaller scale figure from AoU (he was one of the very first characters to get one, in fact), so this marks the second time he’s gotten a figure this size. Though Rhodey had the same basic armor (albeit in different colors) for Iron Man 3 and Age of Ultron, Civil War has given him a much bulkier design, more in line with what he had in Iron Man 2. His sculpt does a rather nice job capturing this new look, as well as balancing the overall proportions. He’s also satisfyingly hefty, which is definitely appropriate. In general, this is one of the better sculpts from the line. Perhaps the only disappointing part is that the shoulder cannon doesn’t move, due to it having a rectangular peg. His paint work is decently handled. Technically, he’s still missing some silver detailing, but, like Falcon, it’s not terribly noticeable. War Machine has no accessories, not even the baton he was shown with in so much of the promotional material.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This pair was picked up at the same time as Cap & Crossbones and Panther & Hawkeye. I think they might just be my favorite of those three sets (though Vision & Winter Soldier are still at the top). Neither figure has any major issues, which is a big plus. And, since I have yet to pick up Iron Man & Widow, this is my last Civil War review for the time being.