Category Archives: Reviews

#0520: The Beast

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

THE BEAST

AVENGERS INFINITE

GreyBeast1

So, here’s a fact a few people reading probably don’t know: though he debuted and has been a prominent member of the X-Men, the first real bit of notoriety gained by Hank McCoy, aka the Beast, was his admission into the Avengers in Avengers #137. Since then, he’s kind of pin-balled back and forth between the two teams. Due to licensing and such with Fox, he’s generally paired up with the X-Men for merchandising, so most people think of him with them. I myself actually prefer him with the Avengers, but that’s just me. Anyway, Beast just wound up with not one but two new figures in Hasbro’s Avengers Infinite line, and I picked one of them up. Let’s see how he turned out.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

GreyBeast2Beast (or “Marvel’s Beast” as he’s listed on the package) was released in the 5th Series of Hasbro’s Avengers Infinite line. The packaging seems to be exclusively referring to this line as “Marvel Infinite” and the character selection is actually pretty sparse on true Avengers figures, but Hasbro seems pretty dead set that the actual name of the line is Avengers Infinite. They know best, so I’m just gonna trust them. The figure is roughly 4 inches tall, with 19 points of articulation. The figure lacks wrist and waist articulation, with is rather annoying, especially for a character like Beast. It seems Hasbro is trying to cut down articulation on the smaller line to save costs. Beast was available in two versions: Blue and Grey. At first it may seem like just a paint swap, but the figures are actually pretty different. If you couldn’t tell from the pictures, the one I’m looking at is the Grey Beast figure, which is the rarer of the two. The look is based upon Beast’s initial furry appearance, during his short solo series. By the time he appeared in Avengers, his fur color had been changed to blue, and he stuck with that. Over the years, Beast has become bulkier and more feral, but this sculpt takes him back to the basics. The sculpt is all-new to this figure (though many of the pieces are shared with his blue counterpart) and it’s quite well done. Beast is bigger than others in the line, but not gargantuan; he has the stocky strongman look that the character sported into the 80s or so. The proportions are all pretty much what they should be, something AI and its predecessor Marvel Universe have been known to struggle with in the past. The figure is coated almost from head to toe in a furry texture that is really well rendered and sells the characters beastly nature quite nicely. All of this is topped off by a head sculpt that is a near perfect translation of the “Classic Beast” style head. For all the expert work that was done on the sculpt, the paint is a bit sparse. The figure mostly relies on the molded grey, with some flat blue for the shorts, and a few black and dark grey details. Most of the paint is on the head; the eyes and mouth are pretty good, and the hair’s not bad. There’s a random spot of black on the chin, which I feel certain isn’t supposed to be there. The only other paint is on the forearms, where his hair is painted black. There isn’t really any transition work, so he just has the big black spots on his arms, with looks weird. Overall, the paint’s not atrocious, but it could definitely be better. Beast includes no accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up Beast from Target. I was actually looking for some of the new Marvel Legends at the time, but I came across this guy and the rest of his series. I’ve been working on a MU Avengers display for a while, and being able to replace the existing Cat Beast with this guy was definitely nice. The figure really has some issues with paint, however the underlying sculpt is strong enough that it ends up saving the figure. And now I’m gonna sit here and wait for Hasbro to release this guy painted blue so that I can have a proper Classic Beast.

#0519: Toyman

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

TOYMAN

DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS

ToymanDCUC1

And here we have another DC Universe Classics review. Watch as the reviewer sets in on the figure. He first starts with the photograph, taking care not to frighten it away. Then, he sets out to write the review, making sure to avoid the dreaded “Mattel sucks” rant, for fear of scaring of the one or two viewers till reading after this, admittedly, very strange introduction. What does this have to do with toys? Not a thing! Okay, so for today’s review, let’s have a look at Toyman, a Superman foe who, ironically, hasn’t had many figures. How about that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

ToymanDCUC2Toyman was released in the 18th Series of DC Universe Classics, a series commonly referred to as the “Super Friends” series. The line-up of the series featured four of the Super Friends-original “ethnic heroes,” as well as two unrelated figures, and Toyman here, who is based on the character’s rather unique appearance from the show. The figure stands about 6 ½ inches tall, and he sports 25 points of articulation. Toyman makes use of the tall skinny buck that Mattel implemented in the last five series of the line (after failing to do so several times before). It’s mostly the same body used on Creeper (reviewed here) though it’s a better fit for Toyman, who should be tall and thin, than it was for Creeper. The body is overall a pretty decent sculpt, but the arms and legs are a bit on the long side. The pelvic area is also really boxy, which looks odd in comparison to the rest of the sculpt. Also, the articulation is kind of a mixed bag. He’s one of the few figures to get double joints, but they’re only on his arms, not his legs, which feels odd. Adding to that the stiffness of the torso and the legs, and the arms just seem strange. In addition to the base body, Toyman has a brand-new head and an add-on for his shoulder piece. Both of these are pretty decent sculpts. I have to commend them on making the mask work in three dimensions, as I’m sure that wasn’t super easy. The face is really well done too; he looks pretty much exactly like the character did on the show, but done in such a way that he still fits very well with the rest of the line. Toyman’s paintwork is about par for the line. Everything is pretty much clean; there’s not really any slop to speak of. The line work is all pretty sharp, and the colors are all pretty bold. Best of all, the yellow doesn’t suck, which is always a good thing. Toyman included a spinning top, a yo-yo, and a piece of the Apache Chief Collect-N-Connect.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I kinda passed on Series 18 when it was initially in stores. Not intentionally, or anything. It just kind of happened. I ended up finding Toyman, along with a fair number of other later series DCUCs, at Baltimore Comic Con. The dealer was offering a bulk deal, so my brother and I picked up 5 figures between us. Toyman was one of mine, and he was the one I wanted the most. I actually really like the goofy Super Friends design, and it’s the one I most associate with the character. I was bummed when DCD’s Super Friends line didn’t get to him, so I’m happy that he showed up here. The base body isn’t without it’s issues.

#0518: Rex Gannon

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

REX GANNON

SPECIAL FORCES (PLAN B TOYS)

RexGannon1

When I was younger, I was that rare kid who really wasn’t into video games all that much. In the last few years, that’s changed a bit (having a brother, a girlfriend, and a best friend who are all pretty into such things tends to have a slight influence), but games are still very much secondary to my other interests. That said, in my youth I was known to get addicted to the occasional online side-scroller game. One such game was The Indestructible Rex Gannon, where you played as the title character, who had to work his way through spike pits and evil guards. It was a pretty simple game, but I really enjoyed it. I was also thrilled to find out that the game’s site offered a figure of the titular hero. The figure was produced by the now-defunct Plan B Toys, who produced a few assortments of generic soldiers and firefighters before going under. So, let’s have a look at Rex.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

RexGannon2Rex was produced by Plan B Toys to be distributed through the Rex Gannon site. Officially, he’s part of their Special Forces line, but his more cartoonish head meant he never quite looked at home with the rest of the line. Rex is about 6 inches tall with 19 points of articulation. In the game, Rex is actually depicted in an orange jumpsuit. However, in order to keep the costs on the figure manageable, Rex had to make use of whatever pieces Plan B had in production at the time. So, Rex ends up being depicted here in a uniform that is rather similar to those worn by the enemy guards in the game, with the story being that he stole one for infiltration purposes. That’s pretty clever if you ask me. Ultimately, Rex ends up being a new head on the basic German Soldier body from Plan B’s World War II line. The head is a pretty decent sculpt. It manages to capture the look of Rex from the game pretty well. It’s certainly not the most detailed sculpt in the world, but all the important details are there. Rex definitely has a little bit of a Doc Savage look to him, which really fits that whole “Indestructible adventure hero” thing.  The body is a little outdated in a few spots, especially when it comes to the joints. That said, it’s pretty well proportioned (in fact, Plan B tended to bank on the more realistic proportions of their figures when compared to their contemporaries) and it’s incredibly well detailed. The body is absolutely loaded with texture work, and it looks pretty darn amazing for it. Each piece of clothing has been given its own texture, and the shoes even feature proper shoelace detailing. For something made by a smaller company over a decade ago, the detail on this is really amazing. Rex’s paintwork is pretty solidly handled as well. The basic paintwork is all pretty clean, with no bleed over or slop to speak of. The head has the cleanest work. The coolest part is definitely his bright green eyes, which stand out really well against the more drab colors elsewhere. The body also features a darker wash, which brings out the texture of the clothing very nicely. Rex included a handgun, a holster, a handful of pouches, and a machine gun, of which I’ve only actually managed to hold onto the machine gun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, like I mentioned in the intro, I purchased Rex through the site which hosted the game. I actually found out about the figure and the game from my favorite toy news site at the time, Raving Toy Maniac. I recall that I only had enough money for either this figure or the Toyfare exclusive Jason Todd from Hush, and I chose this figure. Ultimately, Jason Todd ended up being the better long term investment, but I can’t say I ever felt like I made the wrong choice. When Rex arrived, his box had been personalized by his designer Jesse DeStasio, with a little profile of Rex and a note that read “Contains: One extremely pissed off Indestructible Man” written in silver sharpie on the side. That definitely made me feel pretty cool about my purchase. Rex is one of those figures that probably will go unnoticed by most people, but he’s tremendously fun. I had actually forgotten how much I enjoyed the figure until I pulled him back out for the review.

#0517: Boba Fett

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

BOBA FETT

FUNKO POP! 

BobaFettPop1

You know who has the license to everything? Funko. And when I say everything, I mean literally everything. That includes mega-toy-selling license Star Wars. What’s kind of funny is that Funko has separate deals for Star Wars, Marvel, and Disney, due to getting them before Disney bought the former two. Which means that Funko actually had the “full” Disney license before Disney did! Isn’t that kind of wacky? No? Maybe just vaguely interesting? I’ll settle for a solid “not boring.” Anyway, one of the earliest licenses to appear in Funko’s popular Pop! form was Star Wars. Today, I’ll be taking a look at the line’s version of everyone’s favorite bounty hunter who never actually does anything, Boba Fett.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

BobaFettPop2Boba Fett was figure #08 in Funko’s Pop! Star Wars line. He was one of the initial assortment of figures in the line, which isn’t all that surprising, given the character’s popularity. The figure is about 3 ½ inches tall. Like the Marvel Pop! figures, contractual issues meant that the Star Wars Pop!s couldn’t actually be “figures.” So, Boba here is actually a bobble head, with no real articulation. Like just about every other Pop! figure, Boba features a unique sculpt. The sculpt features some of the usual Pop! trademarks, such as the larger, slightly more squared-off head, and the more squat body. However, the helmet means he doesn’t have the usual Pop! face. The sculpt is fairly nicely detailed, though some of the details are a little on the soft side. It’s a bit more forgivable on Boba, since the bobble heads are made from slightly thinner plastic than regular Pop!s. All of the necessary elements of Boba’s design are present, simplified down a bit, but they’re all there. There’s no denying who this guy is meant to be. Boba’s paintwork is pretty decent work. Like most of Funko’s efforts, there are a few spots with bleed over, and one or two fuzzy lines. The colors are all pretty well chosen and well applied, so that’s cool. It’s worth noting that he’s based on Boba’s appearance in Return of the Jedi, which is indicated by his gauntlets being colored red. In a rare move for a Pop! figure, Boba included one accessory: a black display stand with the Star Wars logo. The figure doesn’t have any issues standing on his own, but it’s a cool touch nonetheless.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, umm, I’m pretty sure that I bought Boba from Target when these guys were first released. Amazingly, I don’t have a direct recollection of getting him. I think that I picked him up shortly after moving into my first college dorm room, so I may have been looking for stuff to populate my desk. I believe the last of the Robot Chicken: Star Wars specials had aired around that time, so I was on a little bit of a Boba Fett high. Anyway, Boba’s actually a pretty decent Pop! and ended up encouraging me to keep up with the style after I had been a little disappointed by the DC Pop!s. To date, he’s actually the only Pop! Star Wars figure I own (though I really do need to get that Biker Scout…).

#0516: Katma Tui

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

KATMA TUI

DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS

KatmaTuiDCUC1

Occasionally, the randomized list from which I pick the next review doesn’t seem quite as random as it should be. Right now, it seems like it’s in a DC Universe Classics sort of a mood. Which is alright, I guess. This does, however, mean that my typical re-hash of my issues with Mattel seems more than a little redundant. So, yay for the readers! No “Ethan hates Mattel” rant.  One of the things that the line definitely had a focus on (outside of re-creating Super Powers) was the Green Lantern side of the DC Universe. Since I’m a pretty big GL fan, I really didn’t have a problem with that. So, what do you get when you combine DCUC’s penchant for making somewhat obscure characters with a focus on Green Lantern stuff? You get Katma Tui, (gesundheit!) one of the earliest non-earth Green Lanterns. Katma was somewhat prominent in the GL books into the mid-80s, where she was paired up quite nicely with Earth GL John Stewart. Then she was killed off rather stupidly, and, in a rarity for comics characters, she actually stayed dead. Hence the obscurity. But, here she is, so let’s review the figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

KatmaTuiDCUC2Katma was released in the 11th Series of DC Universe Classics. The series marked the first real entrance of GL stuff; John Stewart was the anchor figure, Kilowog was the Collect-n-Connect, and there were also two GL villains (Shark and Cyborg Superman) featured. Katma mostly squeaked in by association. The figure is about 6 inches tall, with 25 points of articulation. Katma is based on her late 70s look, from when she was one of the main characters in Green Lantern Corps. It’s the way the character looked when she was at her best, and it’s more distinctive than the generic GL uniform she had before, so it’s a good choice of design. Sculpturally, Katma’s rather straight-forward, especially for a DCUC figure. She was built on the first female buck (the only one at the time) with a new head and right hand. The buck isn’t a bad body, though it isn’t without issues. The most glaring is how small the arms are in comparison with the rest of the figure. If they were just a little bulkier, they’d look a lot better. Other than that, the body’s pretty decently proportioned (an argument could be made that the legs are a touch too long. I’m a rather long-legged person, so I don’t notice that kind of thing very often). No insanely large breasts or impossibly small waist, which is always nice to see. The new pieces fair better than the re-use here. He hand is pretty standard, but still well sculpted. The head is easily the best piece of the figure. It’s a pretty much pitch-perfect recreation of how Katma’s been depicted in the comics. To a fan of the character, it’s pretty clear who it’s meant to be. The hair in particular is spot-on, both in shape and in the level of texture and detail present. The figure’s paintwork is decent, if maybe not outstanding. The work on the head is generally pretty clean, and they managed not to make her eyes look too wonky, so that’s good. The costume isn’t quite as good. The logo looks pretty sharp at least, but most of the transitions between the green and black areas of the figure are really soft, which doesn’t grant her the sharp look she should have. Also, this is probably more of a personal preference thing, but the green just feels too dark. Katma came armed with sword and shield constructs, as well as the torso of Kilowog.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like Green Arrow from the other day, Katma was a DCUC figure I was actually able to find at retail. My dad and I ended up coming across a pair of Katmas at our local TRU, which was pretty cool. If I’m honest, Katma’s not one of the most thrilling DCUCs produced. That said, she’s still a pretty solid figure, and I’m happy that the character was given the chance to get an action figure. My GL collection wouldn’t have been the same without her!

#0515: Hellboy

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

HELLBOY

HELLBOY: ANIMATED

HellboyAnimated1

Back in the days before every comic book property under the sun was getting a movie or TV deal, it was a pretty huge accomplishment for anything that wasn’t Batman or Spider-Man to make it to the big screen. Such was the case with Hellboy, which surprised everyone by not only making it to the big screen, but also managing to do so without fundamentally changing everything about the series. That said, getting one movie made is one thing. Getting a sequel? Even less likely. In the years that followed the first Hellboy film, the film’s director, writers, and principle cast members decided to continue their fun through a series of direct-to-DVD animated movies. They produced two, Hellboy: Sword of Storms and Hellboy: Blood and Iron, before eventually returning with the live action Hellboy 2. While Mezco Toyz held the licenses for the comic and film incarnations of Hellboy, the animated license was picked up by Gentle Giant, at the time known for their statue and bust work (now they’re the ones responsible for the sculpts in Hasbro’s Star Wars: The Black Series and Marvel Legends Infinite Series). They produced HB and his teammate Abe Sapien. Today, I’ll be taking a look at Big Red himself.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

HellboyAnimated2Hellboy was released in two different ways, though the figure is the same both places. He was available as a single figure, or packed in a set with the two movies. My figure comes from the set with the movies. The figure is about 6 ½ inches tall, with 30 points of articulation. The figure is based on the standard Hellboy design used in both animated films. He’s done here in his sans-coat look. One has to wonder if there might have been plans to do a coated version later down the line. The figure’s sculpt was original to him, and it’s really quite well done. In the films, HB’s proportions are rather exaggerated. The figure does a nice job of translating them, resulting in an (overall) sturdy figure, to a level that’s pleasantly surprising. From his head to his hooves, HB’s sculpt is very carefully handled, resulting in something that not only replicates the cartoon look, but also looks pretty great in three dimensions. Something that sets this figure apart from the vast majority of animation-based figures is texture. Many animation figures attempt to replicate the totally smooth look of the animated character, which can be rather problematic if not done right, and can also end up a little boring. HB, on the other hand, is pretty much coated in unique textures. The best work is definitely on the Right Hand of Doom, which is appropriately rocky looking, but he also has a rather neat orange peel-style texture on his skin, which is strangely appropriate for the character. The texture really catches the light just right and ends up making the figure quite interesting to look at. My only issue with the sculpt is that the shins are so thin that one of them snapped on my figure. However, this is less the sculpt’s fault and more an inevitability of the character design. Still, it’s something that warrants caution. The paint on this figure could have been rather flat, but it’s actually not, which is pretty cool to see. The base paint work is pretty much par for the course. There are a few spots of bleed over and missed lines, but nothing too bad. The strength of the paint really lies in the accent work, which does a lot to bring out the best of the sculpted work. The musculature is all outlined by some nicely handled dark red airbrushing, the RHoD has a black wash to bring out the cracks in the rocky surface, and the belt/pouches/holster have all been given a sufficiently worn looking paint job. All of this is above what is generally expected for an animation figure, which just makes it that much better. Hellboy included his signature gun, The Samaritan, an extra left hand to properly hold it, the Sword of Storms, and a display stand with the Hellboy Animated logo on it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I kinda missed these figures when they were first released, mostly due them being in scale with pretty much nothing I owned. I ended up finding a slightly damaged HB along with the DVDs at this record store called Music for a Song. They were selling it for less than the price of one of the DVDs by itself, so I figured it was probably worth it. I’m glad I found it and decided to go for it, because it’s probably the best Hellboy figure ever made. The articulation’s great, the sculpt is great, the paint’s great. The only thing (at the time) that wasn’t great was that he really didn’t fit with anything else I owned. And then DC Collectibles started doing Bruce Timm-styled figures in the 6 inch scale. Batman/Hellboy team-up FTW!

Hellboy&BatmanAnimated

#0514: Sgt. Flash

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

SGT FLASH

GI JOE: 25TH ANNIVERSARY

SgtFlash1

YO JOOOOOOOOOOOE!!!! If you’re gonna review action figures, every so often, it’s important to take a look at something from the original action figure line, GI Joe. And, while the original 12 inch Joe was the one who created the whole freaking industry, when you mention GI Joe, most people are probably going to think of the A Real American Hero incarnation that first appeared in 1982. In ’82, Hasbro was looking for a way to revitalize their brand. Instead of selling one large figure, why not a bunch of smaller ones? Each of them could have their own specialty, and if done properly, they could make use of a lot of the same parts, keeping costs down. Thus, the line started off with a group of figures affectionately known as the “Original 13.” The figures offered a mix of more realistic soldiers and some that were a bit more sci-fi inspired. Today’s figure is one of the latter, a laser trooper by the name of Sgt. Flash!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

SgtFlash2Sgt. Flash (originally just Flash, but I don’t think a certain Distinguished Competition was too happy about that name) was released in the 2008 assortment of the GI Joe: 25th Anniversary line. He was part of that year’s first wave of single-packed figures. The figure is about 3 ¾ inches in height, with 22 points of articulation. Flash is obviously based on his original 1982 figure, though a few liberties have been take here and there with the sculpt. The original Flash figure shared more than a few parts with his teammates, but that’s not the case here. The good Sergeant has been fitted with an all-new sculpt. It’s not one of the greatest sculpts the line had to offer. The head is easily the figure’s weakest point. The original was sort of plain and generic, but here he’s kind of a little dopey looking. Something about him really makes me not want to trust this guy with the lasers. Another problem with the sculpt is something that actually affected a lot of the initial 25th figures. The nature of how the lower/upper arm pieces were sculpted seriously inhibits the range of motion on the elbow joints, which ends up being quite limiting on a figure like Flash, who needs to hold stuff. There’s also the issue of his chest armor being divided in half, but that’s a more minor thing. The articulation is actually pretty nice to have there. The rest of the figure’s sculpt is actually pretty great. His jumpsuit has lots of great work on the folds and such, and being able to see the collar of the knit shirt underneath is a cool touch. The quilted pattern of the armor and the etched patterns on the gloves are also very well handled, and add some character to the figure. The paint ends up being the weakest part of the figure. The red, in particular, is pretty bad. It’s uneven, it frequently bleeds over, and there’s a rather noticeable spot on his chest where something got stuck to it while it was drying. The paint on the head does an already lackluster sculpt no favors. The eyebrows are really thick, and just a tad too high, and his eyes look rather lifeless. At the very least, the boots and gloves are well painted, so there’s that. Sgt. Flash includes a helmet with a flip up visor, his trusty laser rifle, a backpack that it can plug into, and a GI Joe logo-stand with his name written on the front.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Sgt. Flash was picked up for me by my Dad and my brother. I had just gotten my wisdom teeth out at the time, and I was sitting at home watching my DVDs of the cartoon. They felt kinda sorry for me, so they bought me Flash (as well as General Hawk, who was the real winner of the two). The original Flash figure is one I’ve always wanted, but never gotten. This one’s not quite the same thing, and he’s certainly not one of the best figures this line had to offer, but he does make for a decent stand-in, and he really isn’t that bad.

#0513: City Hunter

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

CITY HUNTER

PREDATORS (NECA)

CityHunter

For me, my NECA collecting is widely due to their current, super-awesome, handling of Aliens. That line is definitely one of their signature lines, but the line that really, truly defines NECA is their fantastic Predators line. The line first began as a tie-in to 2010’s Predators film, before gradually moving on to the designs of the creatures from the other films in the series. Like a lot of properties from the ‘80s, the Predator franchise has a really strong, really distinctive first film, before switching to films that are of a noticeably lower quality. Predator 2 definitely isn’t up to the first film by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s really not the worst thing ever, and, more importantly, the main Predator design is really cool. So, let’s have a look at one of NECA’s versions of that character!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

CityHunterWilsonThe City Hunter, as he is officially named, was released in the 4th Series of NECA’s Predators line. As noted in the intro, he’s based on the primary Predator featured in Predator 2 (there were actually quite a few secondary Predators featured.) The figure is just shy of 8 inches in height, with 24 points of articulation. City Hunter is appears here sans-bio-mask, meaning it’s after his first run-in with Harrigan, however, he still has both hands, so it’s before they do significant battle. Structurally, the figure shares a number of pieces with the Predators that preceded him, however, he has a character specific head, as well as some unique armor pieces. He also has a brand new pelvis, hips, and upper legs, as the figure is one of the first in the NECA line to sport the ball-and-disc-style hip joints that would eventually become standard for the line. Probably the best part of the sculpt is the figure’s head, which gives a great look at what lies beneath that Predator mask. The mandibles have been sculpted as a separate piece and glued in place, which not only gives the figure a great bit of dimension, but also allows for the mouth to be really detailed. Beyond just the head, every piece of this figure’s sculpt is covered with some sort of texturing or detailing, just like the prop-suit from the movie would have been, and it all looks pretty fantastic. City Hunter’s paintwork isn’t quite as good as his sculpt, but it’s not terrible. The colors all match up pretty well with the colors from the movie, and for the most part the paint stays where it’s supposed to be. The figure also has the appropriate sheens on his skin and armor, to help differentiate them, which is definitely cool. However, there’re a few areas with a bunch of slop, and, most notably, the painting of the fishnets is, at best, erratic. It results in an overall decent effect, but it doesn’t stand up to close scrutiny. The City Hunter is armed with one accessory: the smart disc. While it’s not as cool as the Combi-Staff, the piece is significant in the movie, and it’s nice to see it here. He has a little trouble holding it, but it can be stowed in his side holster quite nicely.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After getting pulled into NECA’s Predators line with Dutch and the Jungle Hunter from the first movie, I hadn’t really planned on getting any of the other Predators. But, a re-watch of Predator 2 reminded me of how much I really liked the City Hunter design, so I ended up tracking this guy down on Amazon. He’s a really great figure, and he shows of the best qualities of the line very well. Now, if only there were a Harrigan to go with him!

#0512: Green Arrow

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

GREEN ARROW

DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS

GreenArrowDCUC1

In a lot of ways, Mattel’s DC Universe Classics was really the true successor to ToyBiz’s run on Marvel Legends. Now, before you grab the pitchforks and the torches, hear me out. Both lines were the hottest action figure line around at the time of release, both offered a surprisingly expansive look at their respective universes, and both were renowned for their representations of obscure characters. They’ve also both begun to show their age, and they were both a pain in the butt to collect. And of course, they both have their fanbases, who don’t tend to like being compared to each other. If I go missing, you know where to look. In the moment, I think I enjoyed collecting DCUC a bit more, just because I gained more of a mastery of tracking stuff down online, which made getting the figures I wanted a whole lot easier. So, why not have a look at one of my favorite figures from that line, Green Arrow.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

GreenArrowDCUC2Green Arrow saw release in the 9th Series of DC Universe Classics. He served as the “anchor figure” of the series. With shows such as Arrow on the air, Green Arrow being an anchor figure nowadays wouldn’t be a huge shock, but at the time, it was actually a pretty bold move. However, given the presence of another 11 series of the line after this one, it’s safe to say it paid off okay. The figure is about 6 ½ inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation. He gets an extra two points of articulation compared to others in the line thanks to some hinge joints at the wrist, in addition to the usual swivel joints. It’s a nice addition, although it would have been nice if they’d made it standard to the line. Green Arrow is based on Oliver Queen’s Bronze Age (read: 70s-80s) appearance. It’s easily the character’s most distinctive look, and it’s one he’s returned to many times over the years. Also of note, it’s the look he had in the DC Super Powers line in the 80s, which was what Mattel was working to recreate.  DCUC generally operated on the buck system, but characters such as Green Arrow tend to need more unique pieces than others, resulting in him being more new than re-use. The waist, upper legs, and shoulders are re-used from the medium sized buck, but I believe everything else on the figure is new. Ollie ended up with one of the best sculpts DCUC had to offer in that regard. All of the little details of the costume are sculpted, and they are done with the necessary precision. They are also spot on to design from the comics, right down to those weird draw string things on the front of his costume. The pointed shoulders of his costume also help to mask the slightly large shoulders that were an issue with the line, and the rest of the pieces being new meant that Ollie ended up with a build that was appropriate to him. The figure’s hands are both sculpted to work well with the accessories, and they really turned out great. The head sculpt really makes this figure, perfectly capturing the Neal Adams Green Arrow of the 70s. He’s got just the right “charming rogue” look, which sells the character really well. In addition, they’ve managed to render his hat in three dimensions without it looking the slightest bit silly, which is really great. Where the figure ends up falling down just a bit is the paintwork. The paint certainly isn’t bad. In fact, the colors are well chosen, and it’s overall pretty clean. However, there’s a little bit of slop and bleed over. The worst thing on my figure is the airbrushing, particularly on the face. What was clearly meant to be a little bit of color on his cheeks ended up looking rather ridiculous, almost to a clownish level. The figure included his signature bow, a few different arrows, and a clear blue display stand. The bow ends up being another point of contention. There’s an arrow molded to it, meaning not only can the other arrows included not be used at all, but he also can’t draw the bow back any further, and he looks silly when just holding the bow one handed. Why Mattel decided to handle it this way (and to continue to handle it so on all the archers that followed) is baffling.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Amazingly enough, Green Arrow is one of the DCUC figures I ended up finding at retail with no real issues. I stumbled across him (as well as Black Canary) at my local Target and happily purchased him. Issues with the bow aside, this was one of the best figures that DCUC had to offer, and he still holds up, even while the rest of the line begins to look dated. It’s a shame that Mattel couldn’t keep up the effort they put into this figure.

#0511: Gorn Captain

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

GORN CAPTAIN

STAR TREK (PLAYMATES)

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When people think of Star Trek, more often than not, they’ll think of the show’s main crew members, or perhaps the scantily clad green alien woman. What tends to get overlooked, especially in the case of the original series, is the plethora of alien creatures that appeared on the show. In terms of toys, the aliens tend to get no respect. Often, they’ll be needlessly changed, or under produced, or even replaced by aliens made up by the toymakers. However, under the helm of Playmates in the 90s, the aliens actually did get a little bit of respect. Since the line was so big and they had to keep it interesting somehow, they turned to the aliens to liven things up. One such figure is today’s focus, the Gorn Captain.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Gorn2The Gorn Captain was part of the Classic Trek 30th Anniversary assortment, released by Playmates in 1996. The assortment was released in waves of 2-3 figures each. The Gorn was from one of the later waves, along with Environmental Suit Kirk and the Mugato. The Gorn Captain is based on the character’s lone appearance in the Classic Trek episode “Arena.” The figure is just shy of 5 inches in height and he features 9 points of articulation. He has less articulation than what was standard for the line, which, sadly, was true for quite a few of the aliens in the Classic Trek line. The removal of the bicep swivels and waist movement are both rather annoying. The figure manages okay without them, but their absence is just baffling. On the plus side, this figure actually ends up making the v joint on the hips work pretty well, which can’t be said for the rest of the line. The Gorn Captain’s sculpt is wholly original to him, and generally speaking, it’s actually very well handled. While Playmates was known to have trouble with proportions on the human figures, creature figures played to their strengths. Aside from the torso being a little bit flat, the figure’s proportions are a close match for the Gorn’s appearance on the show. The sculpt exhibits some stand-out texture work on the skin, something not often seen on a figure from this time. It really helps set him apart from the other figures in the line, and other figures from the time in general. The Gorn had a rather distinctive facial design, and the figure’s head sculpt is a spot-on recreation of the mask from the show. The figure’s paint is generally pretty straight forward, but it’s rather good for the time. Most of the base paintwork is cleanly applied, and there’s even a light application of brown on the figure’s shoulders, which helps to sell the reptilian look of the character quite nicely. The Gorn Captain was packaged with a stone spike, the cannon constructed by Kirk in the episode, three projectiles, a display stand, and a trading card.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Back in the 90s, when my dad was collecting the Playmates line, I vividly remember the purchase of the Gorn.  I was fixated on the figure, and have loved the character ever since. According to my dad, he actually went out and bought me a Gorn figure, with the intent to give it to me as a gift. However, it ended up going missing somewhere, so I never ended up getting one. In the years that followed, the Gorn figure always seemed to evade me. Fortunately, one of the dealers at this year’s Farpoint had one amongst a large selection of other Playmates Trek figures. So, I finally have my Gorn figure! Sure, he may not be the greatest figure of all time, but he’s definitely fun, and I’m just super thrilled to own one.

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EDIT: Wow, I certainly lucked out in posting a mostly green figure for St Patrick’s Day, didn’t I?  I swear it wasn’t at all planned!