Category Archives: Reviews

#0625: Dog Alien

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

DOG ALIEN

ALIEN3 THE VIDEO GAME

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If there’s a theme to any of my recent reviews, I’d say it’s “figures that are almost identical to figures I reviewed not long ago.” First Superman Red, then Ultron 2.0, and now it’s the Dog Alien. Of course, most of these figures have a pretty good reason for being so similar to each other, and as an added bonus, the reviews are also a heck of a lot easier for me to write. Yay for Ethan being selfish and lazy!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

DogAlienVG4The Dog Alien is the latest release in NECA’s subset of figures based on licensed video games. The idea behind the line is applying the more limited color palettes of vintage video games to some of NECA’s more realistic sculpts, affording them a chance to get an additional use out of some of their molds. The Dog Alien is over 9 inches tall (standing straight up) and features 39 points of articulation, plus a bendable tail. The figure is based on the appearance of the titular character in 1992’s Alien3 tie-in video game. Sculpturally, the figure is identical to the Aliens Series 3’s regular Dog Alien. Though it isn’t my favorite of the Xeno designs, there’s no denying that this is some of NECA’s finest Xeno work. Seeing as there are far less chances for re-use on the Dog Alien, I’m glad to see NECA found another use for this tremendous sculpt. Obviously, the real draw of this figure is the all-new paint scheme. The game which the figure is based on was a 2D side-scroller. Depending on which direction the alien was moving, it would be either blue or brown. The figure has replicated this idea quite expertly. When viewed from the right, the figure is blue, and when viewed from the left, he’s an orange-ish brown. The paint is handled in such a way that you can get a surprising amount of range without seeing the opposite side’s color. In addition, the paint is applied in such a way to really accent the strengths of the sculpt, and highlight many of the cool details that were easily missed on the regular version. The colors are bright and vibrant, and contrast quite nicely with the underlying black. The Dog Alien is packed with the same stand included with the standard version. I don’t find I need it, but it’s nice to have in case you want to do some more extreme posing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When this figure was first announced, I really wasn’t sold on it. I’m already pretty iffy on the Dog Alien in general, so I wasn’t sure I wanted to have yet another one. But, up to this point, I’ve picked up every figure from NECA’s Aliens line, and it would suck to just skip one. So, I had quite the dilemma on my hands. A few weeks ago, I stopped by local toystore All Time Toys, just to look around, and they had happened to get their shipment of these guys in. In hand, my opinion of the figure changed completely. This figure really pops. It could have been really gimmicky, but the paint here is top notch, and produces an incredibly unique figure. This has gone from an item I thought I might skip to the highlight of my collection.

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#0624: Yoda

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

YODA

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

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After a bit of a hiatus, I’m finally getting back into Star Wars: The Black Series. It’s not really by choice or anything, it’s just that I’ve finally started finding the figures I want again. The stores around me are all still drowning in a sea of Episode III Obi-Wans, so none of them have been getting any of the new figures. So, I have to check other places, outside of my usual stops to actually find the guys I want. Fortunately, luck’s been on my side, allowing me to track down several desired figures, including today’s focus, Yoda.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Yoda2Yoda was part of the…umm… he was released in the…hmmm. Okay, yeah, Star Wars: The Black Series has done it again. Hasbro’s releases are strange and more than a little hard to follow, so I’m never quite sure where figures actually got released. Yoda’s been given the number 06, but, in all honesty, those numbers are mostly meaningless, since a) they restarted the numbering with Series 4 and b) the numbers don’t seem to have anything to do with order of release. The TIE Pilot is #05, but I know for a fact he came after Yoda. I think Yoda might have been part of the same assortment as the Clone Sergeant, which I believe was the sixth series of figures. The figure is about 3 inches tall and has 19 points of articulation. Now, here’s where the first real issues begin to crop up. See, that’s plenty of articulation, but, for some reason, the figure’s been given double elbow joints, which seem excessive, and nothing but thigh cuts on the legs, so he can’t really do much but stand. Kind of a bummer. The figure has a brand new sculpt, which isn’t a huge surprise. It’s pretty good, overall. The head, hands, and feet all have a nice amount of detail, and the Yoda4clothes are well textured.  The arms are a little bit long, but that’s minor. Of course, most of the sculpt won’t ever be seen, due to the outer robe being done with cloth. I don’t mind the cloth robe at all. It could maybe be a little better tailored and I’m not sure how it will stand the test of time, but it’s not bad. It’s held in place by a small rubber belt, which does its job well, so that’s good. Paint is the one area where the figure (and the line, really) could stand to improve. It’s not bad, but it’s not super great either. The basic colors are fine, but the application is sloppy, and pretty much everything bleeds over. Yoda has a fairly decent selection of accessories, including his signature cane, the blissl flute and snake of the vintage figure, and a lightsaber. What’s that you say? You don’t see a lightsaber in any of the pictures? Well, that’s because goofball Ethan lost it before taking the pictures. Of course, I’m not much of a fan of Yoda having a lightsaber anyway. Plus, as what is clearly an Empire Strikes Back version of the character, the lightsaber’s really not accurate.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, as I mentioned in the intro, none of my main retail stops have gotten any Black Series since Series 2. This presents problems in getting anything that is after Series 2, which happens to be most of the line. With Yoda, things weren’t helped by him being the only OT figure in his assortment, and the only truly new figure as well. So, I kinda figured I wouldn’t be getting one. But, I was killing some time in a Walgreens, and I actually managed to stumble upon this guy! Ultimately, he’s just an okay figure. He won’t be winning any awards or anything. That said, he does a decent job of conveying the character, and he looks good with the rest of the line. Just don’t pay an arm and a leg for him. He’s not worth it.

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#0623: Ultron 2.0

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

ULTRON 2.0

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

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It’s hard to believe it’s been two months since Avengers: Age of Ultron hit theatres. Time’s just flown by, and we’ve all moved onto other movies (such as another evil robot movie…), so it’s a little surprising that so much of the film’s merchandise is still slowly making its way to stores. The second set of the 3 ¾ inch figures made their way out about a month ago, but I’m still playing a little bit of catch-up. I’ve managed to piece together a pretty decent set of figures, including the first single release of the titular antagonist, Ultron.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultron2bUltron 2.0 was released in the second assortment of 3 ¾ inch Avengers: Age of Ultron figures. As the name denotes, this figure is based on Ultron’s second main appearance, more commonly referred to as Ultron Prime. I guess Hasbro just haaaaaad to be different. So, in an effort to be upfront, it should be noted that this figure is a repaint of the Ultron Prime included in the Ultron vs. Iron Man set. As such, it inherits all of that sculpts various flaws, the most pressing being that the figure stands just shy of 4 inches tall when it really should be over 5. So, he’s still really tiny. I will say that, for whatever reason, the sculpted details seem a little sharper on this figure than they did on the other. I don’t know if that’s just the lighter plastic allowing a better view or if the figure actually went through a better casting process. While I thought the sculpt was fairly accurate on first examination, another look at it shows that it’s got more than a few deviations from the source material. The head lacks the human flare of Ultron Prime, and a lot of the finer details of the armor are incorrect. Also, he has the sort of goofy, almost clown shoe like feet, instead of the toed feet from the movie. Some of it’s rather forgivable, but it’s annoying to see it be so off. Paint, or coloring at least, is what differentiates this figure from the last one. Fortunately, he’s much better overall than what we saw before. The lighter, more metallic plastic he’s been molded in looks a lot cleaner and makes the figure look more finished. He lacks the odd translucent arms, which is good for those wanting a more basic Ultron. The actual painted details aren’t much different, though he does have some extra red detailing on his torso, which is certainly nice. He includes the same accessory as his predecessor: a blast piece molded in red.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Hey, remember when I found the Iron Legion and Scarlet Witch and decided to give the Scarlet Witch to my Dad? Yeah, this guy’s from the same purchase. Like the Iron Legion, this guy was more bought to hold me over until I could get my own Scarlet Witch. He’s really not the most thrilling figure, but at the very least he’s an improvement over the one from the three pack. Yay for me.

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#0622: Tail-Whipping Nightcrawler

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

TAIL WHIPPING NIGHTCRAWLER

MARVEL MOTORIZED TWIST ‘EMS

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Licensed toys can be weird. Sometimes, you get totally straight-forward action figure lines. They represent the property well, and they don’t really surprise anyone.  They are what they are. Of course, you might occasionally get the wacky variant here and there, just to keep main characters out there. But the line as a whole is still pretty standard. Occasionally, you get a whole line of figures that are just wacky from start to finish. Take, for instance, ToyBiz’s Marvel Motorized Twist ‘Ems, a short-lived little line of super-deformed figures from the early 2000s. At the time, ToyBiz was taking the “see what sticks” approach to toy making, trying a variety of things. Twist ‘Ems was just one of the things that didn’t take off. Still, that didn’t stop them from making two regular series and one movie-based series. They really tried. Let’s have a look at Nightcrawler, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

NightcrawlerTwist2Tail Whipping Nightcrawler was released in the Movie Series of Marvel Motorized Twist ‘Ems, as one of the two figures based on the recently released (at the time) X-Men 2. The figure is about three inches tall and, while his shoulders, hips, and neck all have “joints,” they aren’t really articulated, due to the motorized nature of the figure. They move pretty well when the wind-up feature is activated, but they’re not of much use for anything else. The sculpt takes the design of the character from X-Men 2 and “twists” it into a more super-deformed style. The body is where most of the styling kicks in, with short, stubby arms and legs, and larger hands and feet. In proportion, the head is really huge. In fact, the head is pretty much just a 1/6 scale sculpt of Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler. The head sculpt is really well done, with plenty of detail and an excellent likeness of Cumming. Were one to want a Hot Toys-style Nightcrawler, this sculpt would definitely be a good starting point. It’s a little weird to see this detailed a sculpt on a “cartoony” figure like this, but the details are fairly present throughout the rest of the figure, so it blends well enough. The body is subject to a little bit of intrusion from the wind-up mechanisms, but the tabs on the feet and the winding gear aren’t too obtrusive, just obviously present. The figure’s paintwork is generally pretty good. The colors all match up pretty well to the movie look, everything is applied pretty cleanly, and there’s plenty of small detail work that adds a lot of dimension to the figure. Some areas, such as the jacket, are a little bit on the more simple side, but it works pretty nicely. Nightcrawler doesn’t have any accessories, but he does have the wind-up feature. When wound up, his legs walk him forward, his arms move up and down, and his head goes side to side. Interestingly, despite the name, the tail doesn’t really move or whip.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t entirely miss out on the Twist ‘Ems, but I didn’t get any of the movie ones. In fact, I had almost entirely forgotten about this goofy little line. While at a local Goodwill with Super Awesome Girlfriend (who was looking for some unrelated stuff) I found this little guy just sitting on a shelf, amongst a random collection of stuff. He was only a few dollars, so I figured he was worth it. Like I said, this is a goofy little line, and it’s a little difficult to figure out just who the target audience was meant to be. That said, you can tell a lot of effort was put into this guy, and he’s just a whole lot of fun. And check out this walk cycle!

#0621: Mr. Assemble

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

MR. ASSEMBLE

ASSEMBLE BORG (REVOLTECH)

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Boy do I sure enjoy me some Assemble Borg figures. Trouble is, they aren’t the easiest things in the world to come across here in the US. There are a few figures in decent supply, but most of the line is virtually non-existent. So, I kind of have to take the dribs and drabs that I can get. I did manage to recently come across a few of the more difficult to find figures, which was quite exciting. Today, let’s have a look at Mr. Assemble, who is sort of, kind of the lead character of the series.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

MrAssemble3Mr. Assemble was entry 001 in the Assemble Borg line. Yep, he’s the very first figure in the whole line. No pressure or anything. The first three figures were the three main heroes of the line, and Mr. Assemble seems to be their leader. Like many of the others from the early “heroes and villains” iteration of the line, Mr. Assemble was given his own descriptor, “Commando Leader.” It’s admittedly not the most exciting descriptor, but hey, it works. The figure is 6 inches tall and features 42 points of articulation, both of which are standard for the line. Mr. Assemble is built on the standard Assemble Borg body. We’ve seen most of this body before with Jarknoid Zain. Technically, Assemble was the originator, but it’s the same body either way. It’s nicely done; it’s simple and sleek, with a nice stylistic flair to it. It’s a great base from which to build a multitude of figures. Assemble features a unique head and chest plate. The head is the MrAssemble4most…anime-influenced(?) of the sculpts I’ve seen from the line. A lot of that comes from the hair (which is also a first) which is spiky and lively. It’s not really up my alley, but it’s certainly well handled. Like Zain, this head is really a helmet, over a smaller underlying head. The head below is slightly different from Zain’s, but once again, I can’t see this being anyone’s default display choice. The chest piece is fairly basic, with only a few details, but it’s nicely designed, and does a nice job conveying the more basic hero-style of Mr. Assemble. Each of the first three figures was given a set of extra pieces to enhance them in some way. The other two had weapons that could be swapped out for one of their arms, but Mr. Assemble gets a set of robotic boots. They’re actually pretty cool, and very well sculpted. They add a nice bit of pop to the figure, and stand out very nicely against the dark blue body of the MrAssemble6figure. Mr. Assemble also includes four sets of hands (fists, open palm, trigger finger, and pointing/splayed), a big gun, a medium sized gun, a small gun, an even smaller gun, a sword, a knife, and a selection of revolver joints and pegs. Unfortunately, my figure was missing most of the weapons, but the one I did get was pretty cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Yeah, I totally fell overboard with the whole Assemble Borg thing. I’d like to point out that this is once again Tim’s fault. See, I had all my other Assemble Borg stuff and I thought I’d be good for a while. Then Tim came over with his AB stuff, which was fine. But, he had to go and mention this auction he was watching on eBay, which had a whole bunch of stuff, and wasn’t really clearly labeled. So, I had to look at it. And I noticed this guy and one other I wanted. So, I had to buy it. Tim and I ended up splitting it, which meant we not only got actual figures, but a whole ton of extra pieces as well. So, yay for that. To be honest, Mr. Assemble was probably the one of the first three that I was the least interested in getting. That said, with Assemble Borg, you sorta need to take what you can get, and Mr. Assemble’s actually pretty fun.

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#0620: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL LEGENDS (TOYBIZ)

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My relationship with ToyBiz’s run on Marvel Legends was and still remains a love-hate one. I enjoyed the figures (though that’s widely changed over time) but collecting the line was one of the most grueling, frustrating experiences of my collecting career. Even from the start, things were pretty rough, with two of the four first series figures being in higher demand than the others. One of those two was Captain America, who up until this point was running short on good figures. But I got one, and that’s what matters to me!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

CapAmericaML2As noted in the intro, Captain America was released in the first series of Marvel Legends. The figure is 6 1/4 inches tall and features 36 points of articulation. The articulation is okay, but Cap is definitely hindered by being released before ToyBiz had perfected some of the joint styles. The neck and mid-torso movement are particularly limited, almost to the point of making you wonder why they even bothered. Cap’s sculpt was all new (in fact, I believe it remained completely unique to him) and it’s got some definite highs and lows. Let’s start with the highs. The head sculpt is quite good. In fact, it’s probably my favorite Captain America head sculpt to date. It has strong enough features, and has a determined expression while avoiding looking too angry. From the neck down, the sculpt takes a bit of a downturn. The proportions are a little wonky, and a lot of the muscles look strange and misshapen. Not terribly so, but definitely noticeably off. The hands are well sculpted, but they seem a little on the large side. The real issues with the sculpt are on the lower half, where the articulation becomes far more obvious, and we get things like the wonky duck feet he’s sporting. Still, as a whole the sculpt doesn’t seem too bad, and it’s certainly better than some of the other sculpts in the line, even the ones that came later. It just goes to show that a quality head sculpt can go a long way. The paintwork on Cap isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty decent. Slop and bleed over are both minimal, and the colors seem pretty good, if maybe a tad washed out. The patterning on the upper portion of the blue is pretty cool, though it’s a little jarring that it just stops on the under sides of the arms. Cap came packed with a display stand, sculpted to resemble the wreckage of a tank and a portion of brick wall, as well as a small plastic American flag, and a reprint of Captain America #100.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I was able to find his series-mate Iron Man when the series was first released, I was not quite so lucky with the good Captain here. At least, not at first. However a year or so later, KB Toys marked all of their Marvel Legends down to $4. Most of their stock was made up of easy to find figures from later series of the line, but I was able to find one lone Captain America amongst them, which I happily bought. And he’s stuck with me since. The figure is far from perfect, and he shows his age, but I must admit, after digging him back out for the review, I enjoy him a lot more than I thought I would. I think this guy might just stay out of storage for the time being.

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#0619: Superman – Red

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

SUPERMAN – RED

JLA: CLASSIFIED

SupermanRed1

Hey, do you remember back about two weeks, when I took a look at Superman Blue? That weird changeup to Superman to help keep him “hip?” Yeah, well, umm, long story short, he got split into two separate beings, and the second one was today’s focus, Superman Red. See, cuz it’s clever, cuz Superman is usually just one guy, who wears red AND blue, but now he’s two guys who each only wear one color. Isn’t that smart? But, of course, they also had slightly different personalities. Can you guess what was Superman Red’s defining trait? If you guessed the incredibly obvious answer of hot-headedness, you win a special no-prize! Good for you! Now, onto the figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

SupermanRed2Superman Red was released in the third series of DC Direct’s JLA: Classified line. He directly followed Blue in Series 2. While 2 had a more defined “looks of the 90s” theme to it, Series 3 was a little bit more free-form. The figure is about 6 ½ inches tall and has 13 points of articulation. Like just about every other McGuinness-styled figure, the articulation is mostly pointless, and he’s really only good for a basic standing pose. Superman Red is, completely unsurprisingly, a head to toe repaint of Series 2’s Superman Blue. Seeing as they’re essentially just palate swaps of each other in the comics, you can’t exactly blame DC Direct for just using the same mold. I guess they could have given this one a more emotive face (like Mattel did when they released these two) but it’s hardly a requirement. The head still feels too big for the body, and the arms are still too stubby, but it’s not a terrible sculpt. The paint is the real difference here, though even then it’s pretty much the same, but with red swapped in for blue. The paint does feel a little sharper this time around, and the white details are more properly aligned. Like his blue counterpart, Superman Red’s single accessory is a black display stand with the JLA: Classified logo in blue. Would have been cool to get it in red, just for the heck of it, but I guess they wanted it to be the same as the rest of the line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like Superman Blue, Superman Red was from the assortment of figures I picked up during an action figure sale at Cosmic Comix. He was $3. That was most of my reasoning for getting him. Well, that and I was getting Superman Blue. Having both seemed like a good idea. I think Blue is my favorite of the pair, but I like both, and I certainly don’t regret buying them.

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#0618: Agent Venom

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

AGENT VENOM

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINTE SERIES

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Retail has become an odd place for action figures. Lots of stores are condensing their action figure section, and Toys R Us is really the only toy store game in town. But, in a time where lots of places are cutting back, Walgreens of all places has stepped up to the plate, not only carrying an increasingly wide variety of action figure lines, but also carrying their own exclusive items. Some are just simple repaints, but some are all-new, fan-demanded figures, such as Agent Venom, the subject of today’s review.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

AgentVenom2Agent Venom is a Walgreens exclusive figure, released to coincide with Series 1 of Amazing Spider-Man 2 Marvel Legends Infinite Series. The figure had previously been shown in various con displays, with no real mention of where he’d be showing up. The figure stands about 6 ¼ inches tall and sports 32 points of articulation. He is, of course, based on the initial Agent Venom design, from right after Flash Thompson took over as host to the alien symbiote. It’s admittedly one of the more unique variants of the Venom design, and it makes for a rather striking figure, so it’s a good choice for a toy. The figure uses the Face-Off Punisher body as a starting point, with a unique head, hands, knees, shins, and feet and add-ons for the body armor and belt. The body is a little outdated, in terms of both proportions and articulation. However, the Bucky Cap body would be too small and the Hyperion body would be too large, making this the best fit of the existing bodies. On the plus side, the armor covers the torso, thereby hiding some of the wonky proportions. The movement still kinda sucks, but it’s not terrible. The pieces that are new are all very well sculpted. The head is nice and simple, and the armored pieces are loaded with tons of texture. When fully assembled, the figure is the spitting image of his comicbook incarnation. The paintwork on the figure isn’t quite as impressive as the sculpt. Some of that’s to be expected; the character’s design doesn’t really equate to a lot of painted detail. He’s really just got the white accent lines running throughout. They aren’t atrocious, but they could certainly stand to be a little cleaner. Agent Venom includes two Glocks, an MP5, and a USP handgun, as well as a cool four armed symbiote attachment piece to help him hold them all.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I actually found this figure quite a while before I got one. He was amongst the large selection of figures I found at the Walgreens near Super Awesome Girlfriend’s school while I was visiting some months back. But, there were a lot of things I wanted, and I only had so much money (and space in my bag for the plane ride home) so he got put back. Then I didn’t see one again, so I figured I’d missed my shot. A couple of weeks ago, I stopped by a somewhat out of the way Walgreens while killing time during my brother’s karate lesson. I found this guy back behind several other ML Infinite figures. Venom’s not exactly one of my favorite comicbook characters, but the Agent Venom design is actually pretty cool, and it translates incredibly well to action figure form.

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#0617: Mondo

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

MONDO

GENERATION X (TOYBIZ)

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The 90s were a very strange time. I can’t say it enough. Amongst other things, Marvel’s merry mutants, the X-Men were really, really popular. That meant spin-offs out the wazoo. One such spin-off was Generation X. They weren’t “X-Treme” like X-Force, but they still had a very definite 90s flare to them. They were popular for a while, but the team eventually fell into some pretty serious obscurity. However, they managed to get more than one series of an action figure line, leading to a lot of figures that nowadays make people go “Who?” One such figure is team member Mondo. Yeah, I don’t really know him all that well either.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mondo2Mondo was released in the second series of ToyBiz’s Generation X line. Mondo was the only actual team member in the series, making him the last released in the line (though a ToyFare exclusive version of Synch would be released not too long after. Who’s Synch? Exactly.) The figure stands about 5 inches tall and features a whole 6 points of articulation. Usually, ToyBiz’s Marvel stuff was pretty well articulated, but for whatever reason, the Generation X figures were less so. Mondo’s sculpt was also pretty pre-posed. His arms are somewhat spread at his sides and his legs are in a deep walking stance. Unlike a lot of pre-posed figures, Mondo is actually quite stable and well-balanced, so the lack of movement isn’t really too detrimental. The sculpt is actually pretty well handled; there’s plenty of texturing and detailing, and his proportions are in line with what he looked like in the comics. He’s definitely an angry spud, which seems a little out of character, at least going by the bio on the back of the package. The paintwork on Mondo isn’t super complex, but there are a few more minor details that are handled rather nicely. Plus, there’s not really any slop or bleed over, which is always cool. Mondo included a set of clip on armor pieces for his arms, which help to simulate his “omnimorph” abilities. The right side is meant to be wooden and the left is made of stone. Both clip on well enough, and are decently detailed (though the right is definitely a step above the stone). He also has the standard “X” stand, which was included with every figure in the line. He doesn’t need it, but hey, consistency isn’t bad!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Mondo is another piece of the lot of figures I picked up from my local comicbook store during a recent sale. I only had a passing familiarity with Generation X growing up, so I never really got many of the figures. I saw Mondo sitting there and, for whatever reason, he called to me. He’s actually a pretty neat figure, truth be told. Sure, he’s not the most standout character of all time, but it’s clear a lot of effort went into this guy, and that always makes a figure better.

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#0616: T1000 – Patrolman

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

T1000 – PATROLMAN

TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY REACTION

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Hey! It’s Funko’s ReAction brand! I actually haven’t looked at one of these in like six months. That doesn’t mean they haven’t been releasing a steady stream of the little guys, though. They’re making figures from just about every license under the sun, which is cool, but it also means that not every figure is going to appeal to every collector. So, the last few licenses haven’t really been my thing. However, Terminator 2 is totally my thing, and that’s one of their most recent licenses. Score for me! Let’s have a look at one of the film’s two Terminators, the T-1000, in his Patrolman gear!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

T1000MotorCop2The T1000 is part of the first set of Terminator 2: Judgement Day ReAction figures. The figure stands 3 ¾ inches tall and has the basic 5 points of articulation sported by all the figures in the line. He’s based on the T1000’s second major look in the film, after he steals a motorbike cop’s cycle and assimilates his look. It ends up being the look he has for the huge chase scene leading up to the final battle, which makes it somewhat distinctive, though it’s probably not quite as distinctive as his more basic cop look. That said, it’s still a pretty cool, important look, and it checks a few more of the standard “terminator” boxes than the other look. The figure features a new sculpt, done in the Kenner-style which ReAction replicates. Generally, the sculpt does a pretty good job of replicating the look of one of those figures. It’s not perfect; the torso still suffers from a little flatness, and the arms feel a tad too straight. However, it fits in pretty well with Kenner stuff, and it goes well with the Terminator ReAction figures from last year. The details of the sculpt are simple, but what’s there is pretty sharp, and things look pretty clean. Most of the face is covered, so the likeness is fine. What you can see looks close enough to Robert Patrick’s face to work, so that’s good. It’s not really a bad thing, but there’s a part of me that really wishes that one of the arms had a blade at the end in place of the hand, just to make the figure a little more clearly the T1000. Alas, it wasn’t to be. Paint-wise, the figure is decent, but there’s some room for improvement. The body is generally pretty good, with no real issues with bleed over or slop. The head’s a different story, with the silver of the glasses bleeding onto the nose and the left side of his helmet. Also, the silver band on the visor is really sloppy. Both of these issues are rather distracting, and were present on both samples of the figure that I looked at in the store. The T1000 is packed with an MP5K submachine gun. It’s the gun he’s carrying while flying the helicopter in the chase scene, so it’s a good choice. I do wish he could hold it a bit better, but oh well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

These figures really ended up sneaking up on me. I think I might have heard about them somewhere along the line, but they weren’t really present on my mind until I came across this guy at a slightly out of the way Toys R Us. They didn’t have anything else I wanted and I certainly wasn’t walking out empty handed, so I got this guy. That makes it sound like I didn’t really want him, but I did. I love the T1000, so my Terminator ReAction stuff just wasn’t complete without this guy. He’s not a perfect figure, and I’d like to see more in the way of actual T1000 stuff, but this guy’s fairly entertaining, and he’s a lot better than Funko’s early output from this line.

T1000MotorCop3