Category Archives: Reviews

#0471: USNC Soldier ODST

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

USNC SOLDIER ODST

HALO (MEGA BLOCKS)

I’m relatively new to Halo. I remember Halo 2 being released, and I even had an Xbox at the time, but I never got into it. The majority of my exposure to the game was the small handful of multiplayer games I’d played with friends who owned the game. However, over the holidays my brother got an Xbox One, as well as a copy of The Master Chief Collection, so we’ve been steadily playing through the co-op versions of the first four games. Now, I’ve grown more familiar with the franchise and I actually kind of like the designs enough to pick up a few toys here and there. My first foray into the world of Halo toys is minifigures, but, shocking every one, it’s not Minimates, it’s the current set of Halo minifigures from Mega Blocks.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The USNC Soldier ODST, here forth referred to as “ODST Guy,” was released as part of the second assortment of Halo Drop Pods, one of the many, many, many ways that Mega Blocks is distributing their figures. The ODST guy is available in both copper and blue. In case you couldn’t tell, this is the copper version.  The figure is roughly 2 inches tall and features 16 points of articulation. He’s based on the basic ODST design, seen in Halo 3 ODST, as well as briefly in Halo 2. The ODST design is a little different from the basic Spartan design, as it’s meant to be just a normal guy in the armor as opposed to a genetically engineered Spartan. The figure’s sculpt is shared with all of the versions of the ODST guy, and it’s pretty good. Each of the armored pieces (apart from the helmet) can be removed, and they’re each nicely sculpted and accurate to the source material. The underlying/head is also well sculpted. The interesting thing about Mega Blocks minifigures, in comparison to other minifigures, is that they’re proportions are only the slightest bit tweaked. The hands and feet are a bit larger than usual and figure is a little bit stockier over all, but that’s about it. On a figure like the ODST guy, it almost isn’t noticeable that the proportions have been changed. The figure’s paint is fairly basic, with most of the work being on the head and hands, but what’s there is well applied. The blue used for the visor is really nice, and all of the colors seem well chosen. The figure includes a bronze drop pod (which he comes packaged in), a basic Mega Block piece with the Halo logo, which serves as a stand, and a suppressed SMG.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The ODST guy was picked up while I was out looking for the new Bionicle line with my boy Tim. We decided to stop by Toys R Us, and Tim found an Emile from the same line. I didn’t want to miss out on the Halo fun, so I picked up this guy. The ODST design is pretty cool, and I really love the suppressed SMG, so this figure’s a pretty great fit for me. Mega Blocks still don’t surpass Minimates, but they’re getting pretty close!

#0470: Rocketeer

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

ROCKETEER

SCIENCE FICTION VINYL FIGURES

Movie-making is a pretty competitive business. Even if a movie does manage do get made, getting it viewed by an audience can be a different story. Many movies never really see the audience they deserve and will forever be woefully underrated. One of my favorite underrated movies is The Rocketeer. The Rocketeer was a movie ahead of its time. It’s a pulp-style super hero movie that would be readily at home with the current brand of Marvel Studios movies. Sadly, in the 1990, it wasn’t what audiences were looking for, and it’s at best a cult favorite. Toys for the movie have been scarce over the years, but Funko picked up the license a few years ago and they’ve been using it all over the place.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Rocketeer was released as part of the first assortment of Science Fiction Vinyl Figures from Funko. He doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of the more iconic sci-fi characters in the assortment, but I’m hardly going to complain about that. The Rocketeer is one of the rarest figures in the series, at a ratio of 1:72. Seems like this guy’s only going to be seen by the most dedicated of Rocketeer fans. The figure is about 2 ¾ inches tall and features no articulation. He has a totally unique sculpt and it’s probably the best in the series. It’s cleanly sculpted, there’s lots of great detail work, and everything is very well defined. The character’s design has been tweaked to fit the overall style of the line, but like Robby, he hasn’t had to be changed too much. The figure is posed in the most extreme of the poses we’ve seen on the figures reviewed here. It’s the character’s signature pose, seen right before the movie’s climactic battle as he stands in front of the American flag. It’s a perfect pose for the character and it’s been translated really well. Rocketeer’s paint is pretty good; nothing fantastic, but solid work. All of the colors are on the mark and everything cleanly applied with no real slop or bleed over. The lack of any real issues is actually really good for Funko, who can sometimes have some issues with quality control on their stuff.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Rocketeer was gotten at the same time as Tron, while I was out shopping with Super Awesome Girlfriend. Seeing as the other three figures I got were common figures, I figure I didn’t have much of a chance at getting this guy. However, Super Awesome Girlfriend insisted on picking out the two I was going to buy, and the Rocketeer was one of them (she’s just the best). To say I was thrilled is an understatement. The Rocketeer is a fantastic figure, marred only by the fact that he’s so freaking rare.

#0469: Tron

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

TRON

SCIENCE FICTION VINYL FIGURES

Tron is one of those movies that’s really innovative and that everyone remembers the name of, but that lots of people haven’t seen or don’t really remember. It’s got its loyal fans (and there are a fair number of them), but it’s not really held in the same esteem of many other landmark films. I myself didn’t actually see the movie until just before the release of its sequel Tron Legacy. But, I can appreciate the importance of the movie, and I like the designs. So hey, toys!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Tron was released as part of the first assortment of the Science Fiction Vinyl Figures from Funko. Tron is another of the more common 1:12 ratio figures . He’s roughly 2 ½ inches tall and he features no articulation. Tron is probably one of the figures that is the most drastically changed, design-wise. His proportions are the most exaggerated and his texturing and such is rather simplified. While I felt this detracted from E.T., it works pretty well for Tron. He really works in this style. The armor details are nice and sharp, and everything is pretty clean. The arms are separate pieces, but the cuts are well hidden by the shoulder armor. Tron is posed as though he’s getting ready to throw his disc, a good choice for the character. It separates him from the more statically posed Robby and E.T. fairly well. The figure’s paint work is very well done, easily the best of the figures I got. For the most part, he’s just done in a flat blue, with white detail work. The detail work is nice and sharp and is a very good replica of the design from the movie. The sculpt of his face is blank, leaving the paint to fill it in. It doesn’t really have any resemblance to Bruce Boxlightner, but it seems to fit with the rest of the “human” faces from the line. At the very least, the blank white eyes are a lot less creepy here than they are on E.T.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After getting Robby and E.T., I decided to go back and get a few more of the blind boxes. This time around, I let Super Awesome Girlfriend do the picking, and it seems to have worked out in my favor. Tron is one of the cooler designed figures from this series, and he really translates well to the style.

#0468: E.T. – Extraterrestrial

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

E.T. – EXTRATERRESTRIAL

SCIENCE FICTION VINYL FIGURES

So, um, I have a thing to confess. I don’t really “get” E.T. I mean, I know it was immensely popular and I generally love Steven Spielberg’s stuff, but I could never get into E.T. I tried over the years. I’ve watched it several times. I’ve made many a joke about the changing of the guns to walkie talkies for the special edition. I’ve seen tons of the interviews about it. Lots of people I know really like it. Admittedly, I don’t dislike it. There are parts of it I quite enjoy. But it just doesn’t do anything for me outside of occupy the TV screen for two hours.

With that out of the way, please read as I review a toy from a movie that I have no emotional connection to. This’ll be fun…

THE FIGURE ITSELF

E.T. is part of the first assortment of Funko’s Science Fiction Vinyl Figures. Like Robby, E.T. is one of the more common figures in the line, at a ratio of 1:12. E.T. is roughly 2 ¼ inches tall and he has no articulation. E.T. has been sculpted so as to better fit the style of the other figures in the line. In Robby’s case the changes were minor, but here they are a bit more severe. The biggest thing is that the hands have been made much larger and blockier (especially the fingers) and the body has been made a little smaller. The character’s rough skin texture has also been removed, with a much smoother look in its place. Unfortunately, it seems some skin texture would have been a good way to hide the joining of the arms and head with the torso. As it is, the separate pieces are beyond obvious. That said, the sculpt isn’t bad; E.T.’s in his “phone home” pose, with his index finger extended, which is a good choice for the character. It’s also very evident who this is supposed to be, which is always a good thing. The figure’s paint is pretty straight forward. For the most part, he’s a light brown (though perhaps too light), with some white for the eyes and a bit of orange and yellow for the index finger and his heart. The eyes being straight white is in the style of the rest of the figures in the line, but it ends up being particularly unnerving on E.T. E.T. includes no accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

E.T. was picked up at the same time as Robby, while I was shopping with Super Awesome Girlfriend. He was the other half of the two blind boxes I grabbed at random. After opening Robby, E.T. was a bit of a letdown, for more than one reason. As I stated in the intro, I’m not a big fan of E.T., so I’m not exactly raring to get figures from it. Add in the fact that E.T.’s one of the weaker figures in the lineup, and you have an all-around disappointing figure.

#0467: Robby the Robot

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

ROBBY THE ROBOT

SCIENCE FICTION VINYL FIGURES

So, we jump from one robot to the next. I’ve looked at a modern day robot with Pacific Rim’s Tacit Ronin, an 80s robot with Transformers Hero Mashers’ Soundwave, and now I’ll be looking at one of the classiest robots there is, Robby the Robot.  Robby is, in my opinion, one of the coolest robot designs of all time, and he’s far out placed the movie he originally appeared in, Forbidden Planet. Robby’s had his fair share of merchandise over the years, so it’s no surprise that Funko, masters of securing the toy rights to everything (I half expect them to have the toy rights this blog…) are currently producing their own assortment of various Robby stuff. Funko’s big on offering lots of diverse characters as part of one big assortment, which is the idea behind their Science Fiction Vinyl Figures line.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Robby here is part of the first assortment of Science Fiction Vinyl Figures. The figures are blind boxed and offered in differing ratios. Robby is one of the more common figures, at a ratio of 1:12. The figure is about 2 ½ inches tall. He has no articulation, but that’s pretty common for a line of small vinyl figures.  The figure depicts Robby in the style of the line. His design means that he’s less stylistically changed than some of the other figures in the line. Generally, his proportions are tweaked a little bit. The hands and feet are larger and a little blockier, and the details within his head dome are simplified a little bit. The sculpt is very well done; it’s simple, but the details that are there are really made to count. The design’s been tweaked, but it’s still very clearly Robby. He’s sculpted in a fairly straight forward standing up, arms outstretched pose which is picture perfect for Robby. Robby’s paint is simple, but well done.; it’s nice and clean. I do wish the body color were a little darker, but what’s there isn’t bad. It just results in the figure’s colors melding a little bit. Robby includes no accessories.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up Robby from Hot Topic while I was out shopping with Super Awesome Girlfriend. As is the case with most blind boxed figures, he was gotten at random. I picked up two figures from the line and Robby just so happened to be one of the first two I grabbed. Robby’s one of my favorite robot designs and one of my favorite movie characters in general, so I was thrilled to have gotten him. I don’t know that I’d be up for every character in the Funko’s vinyl style, but it works really well for Robby.

#0466: Soundwave

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

SOUNDWAVE

TRANSFORMERS HERO MASHERS

If there’s one glaring omission from the numerous figures I’ve covered on this site so far, it’s Transformers. Transformers was a huge hit in the 80s, and it’s one of those toys that kind of forged its own path. The thing about Transformers is, they’re kind of their own thing. While the name technically refers to a very specific set of figures, it also loosely defines an entire genre of figures. There are “transformers” of practically everything. And none of that seems to have hurt the main brand, which doesn’t seem to be in any danger of falling out of popularity. That’s pretty impressive.

Amazingly enough, actual, name-brand Transformers make up about 0.14% of my action figure collection. That’s FOUR figures. Out of 2800. And only one of those actually transforms. Transformers thoroughly missed me. That said, I do like some of the characters, specifically Soundwave, the one that used to turn into a cassette player. He amuses me (three of my four Transformers are Soundwave). Recently, Hasbro has been getting into the “mix and match figures” idea, under the heading Hero Mashers. The line started with the Marvel brand and then expanded to Transformers. Soundwave was amongst them, so I picked him up.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Soundwave is part of the second assortment of Transformers Hero Mashers. He’s part of the regular assortment of figures, rather than a deluxe or multipack. He’s based on Soundwave’s original design (referred to as his G1 design), though I’m certain there are a few design changes that a more die-hard fan than I could point out. The figure is about 6 ½ inches tall and he has 20 points of articulation. As far as I can tell, the sculpt is wholly original to this figure, but I don’t have any others to check. It’s a well sculpted figure, though he’s definitely been adapted so as to fit the style of this line. Most of the work is on the simpler side, with no really fine detailing, but that seems to be in line with the rest of the line, and it’s done well. The figure has a few ports here and there for various add-ons and accessories to be plugged in. While it’s fairly evident that they are there, they meld pretty well with the rest of the figure. I’d be interested to see if that carries to the non-robotic designs in the Marvel line. The paintwork is roughly on par with the sculpt. It’s rather straight forward, with no real fine detail work or anything. There’s also a little bit of bleed over in a few spots, though nothing atrocious. Soundwave is accessorized with his standard shoulder cannon, as well as a handheld missile launcher (because Hasbro), two gold rocket add-on thingies, a gun of some sort, and an alternate left hand (which, going by the Colossus pieces included with a few of the Marvel characters, I’m going to assume is from another character). In addition to the accessories, Soundwave also has the main point of the Hero Mashers going for him: interchangeability. He comes apart at the elbows, neck, hips, and knees (but not the shoulders, curiously). The pieces are a bit of a tight fit and some, such as the neck/head joint, are really hard to get back in place once they’ve been removed.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Soundwave was purchased from the Kmart nearest the place my family and I stayed over the holidays. In all honesty, he was something of an impulse buy. Well, the closest that I come to an impulse buy, anyway. I had seen him a few times before and passed him up, but I was at Kmart, and they had him and I hadn’t seen anything else I wanted and I sort of caved. As just an action figure, he’s fun, though not the greatest figure I’ve ever owned. As a figure built for swapability? Hasbro’s got a little ways to go before they’re on par with something like Minimates. It’s a neat idea, and the toys are good, but the joints are just a little too tight for frequent swapping.

#0465: Tacit Ronin

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

TACIT RONIN

PACIFIC RIM (NECA)

This site is in desperate need of some giant fighting robots. Seriously, our quota is way down. It’s been like seven or eight months. Obviously, the go to when you want cool giant fighting robots is Pacific Rim. And, would you look at that, I just so happen to have one of the Jaegers from NECA’s latest series of Pacific Rim figures sitting here, waiting to be reviewed. That’s convenient!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Tacit Ronin is part of the fourth series of NECA’s Pacific Rim line. Beginning with Series 3, the line split into two concurrent lines devoted to Jaegers and Kaiju, respectively. Tacit is a member of the former line. If you saw Pacific Rim, you might not recognize Tacit right away.  Unlike all of the previous Jaegers released by NECA, Tacit Ronin does not have any actual scenes in the movie. The Jaeger is only seen briefly during the opening montage of Jaegers. It did, however, serve as a prototype for Striker Eureka, one of the film’s primary Jaegers.  Essentially, Tacit Ronin is the Mk 1 version of Striker Eureka (and early versions of the film’s story even had Tacit in Striker’s role). The figure is roughly 7 inches tall and features 24 points of articulation, as well as dual-piece sliding blades on each forearm. Like the majority of the Jaegers from this line, Tacit is an all-new sculpt. The sculpt is pretty well handled. It’s a little soft in some areas, but not excessively so. In a few cases, the sculpt also impedes the articulation, especially on the lower legs, which can make getting Tacit to stand a very difficult proposition. Going by images I was able to find online, the sculpt is pretty accurate to Tacit’s on-screen appearance. The cool thing about Tacit’s design is that, while it’s none of the individual elements are unique to this Jaeger, a lot of them have been taken a generation or two back, which makes this guy a really cool precursor to the other Jaegers. Tacit doesn’t have the most thrilling color scheme; it’s mostly just white and red. That said, the paintwork is fairly cleanly applied, and NECA’s added a thorough amount of detail to the figure’s armored bits. Tacit includes no accessories, though he does feature a set of slide out blades on each forearm. They’re pretty cool, though they are a little difficult to slide back and forth.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Upon seeing Pacific Rim and receiving the first assortment of figures, I was pretty much on board to buy just about any of the Jaegers NECA saw fit to release. One of my particular favorites was Tacit here, so I was absolutely thrilled to find out NECA would actually be releasing him. I ended up finding the figure at an FYE at my local mall. I actually had to pass on the figure at first (I was buying a few Christmas gifts). After the Christmas season, I went back and was pleased to find that they still had a Tacit left. While Tacit isn’t quite as thrilling as, say, Cherno Alpha (still my vote for the best of the line), he’s still a very strong figure, and he fits in very nicely with the rest of the Jaegers.

#0464: Alien Minimates

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

ALIEN, RIPLEY, KANE, & PARKER

ALIEN MINIMATES

You know how I said I hadn’t reviewed enough Minimates lately? You know what else I just haven’t reviewed enough of? Alien and Aliens stuff. Just not enough of it.

So, welcome to another Alien-themed review, which, by the way, is also yet another Christmas Review. Yeah, they seem to be the song that will not end. At this rate, I kind of expect to sporadically be reviewing last year’s Christmas gifts until this Christmas. Won’t that be fun?

When Diamond Select Toys picked up the Aliens license, there was some confusion as to whether this meant we’d also be seeing Minimates of the characters from the first movie. As it turned out, yes, though as more of their own thing, and less as a subset. So, without further ado, Alien Minimates.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These four were released as part of a boxed set celebrating the 35th anniversary of Alien. They were supposed to be out last year, you know, for the actual anniversary, but they encountered a few delays, making them a mid-January 2015 release.

ALIEN

It would be ridiculous to release a set without the titular creature, so here it is! It’s referred to simply as “Alien” on the package, but this is the design most commonly known as the Big Chap, the creature from the first movie. The figure is a little over 2 ½ inches tall and it features 16 points of articulation. The figure is built on the standard Minimate body, with a non-standard head, hands, and feet, as well as an add-on for the torso and tail. From the neck down, all of the pieces are identical to those of the three Alien Warriors included in the Aliens Minimates Army Dump set. Since the Alien designs in the two movies are similar, this is a pretty sensible re-use, and the pieces are still fantastically sculpted. My only real complaint is that the hands technically should have six fingers, instead of the three fingered Aliens design, but at this scale and style that’s minor. The head is the one new piece, and it’s very well done. It features the first movie’s signature head dome, as well as the skull detailing underneath, and it looks really good. It’s also a bit bigger than the Aliens head, which looks a bit better in retrospect. The paint is also identical to the normal Aliens Warrior from the neck down, with the exception of the upper arms, which have a slight change in detailing. There’s also some detailing under the dome, outlining the skull. All of the paintwork is clean and sharp, and the detailing is really great. The Alien’s only accessory is a clear display stand.

RIPLEY

Much as you can’t do the set without the titular character, it would also be odd to get an Alien set that didn’t feature Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley, the sole survivor of the original film and the true star of the film series. Ripley is 2 ½ inches in height and features 14 points of articulation. She’s based on Ripley’s appearance from the second half of the film, while she’s running through the Nostromo avoiding the creature. She’s built on the standard Minimate body, with a sculpted hairpiece, a watch, and rolled up sleeves. The hairpiece is a re-use from For A Few Dollars More’s El Indio, which is a perfect piece for Ripley’s look… in Aliens. Sadly, it’s totally off for her look in Alien, where her hair was a fair bit longer. Looking through their back catalog of pieces, there isn’t one that’s a natural fit for Ripley in Alien, so I suppose they were just trying to make the best of what they had. It just doesn’t really work. Ripley’s paintwork is generally pretty good, aside from one issue: the likeness on the face isn’t quite there. It’s not terrible, but it doesn’t really look like Sigourney Weaver. DST did a pretty good job capturing Weaver in the Ghostbusters line, so I’m not sure what happened here. Fortunately, there are a few alternatives, so it’s not a total loss. The rest of the paint is quite well done, with lots of really great detail work, which even continues onto her back. Ripley includes a flame thrower, Jonesy the cat, and a clear display stand.

KANE

Alien35th6In spite of John Hurt’s resistance to his likeness being used, Kane seems to turn up quite a bit in Alien product. Not a huge shock, seeing as his role as the carrier of the first Xeno is pretty pivotal. Kane is depicted here in his Nostromo uniform, which he wears early in the film, prior to setting down on LV-426. I actually don’t recall him being without his jacket for very long, so it’s omission is a little odd. Seeing as the figure includes a chestburster piece, I would think his “last supper” look might be more appropriate, but I suppose DST felt like being different. The figure is roughly 2 ½ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation. Kane is built on the standard body, with a sculpted hairpiece and a watch (same as the one on Ripley). As far as I can tell, the hair is new to the figure. It seems to me that Kane probably could have made do with a re-use if it meant giving Ripley a new piece that was more appropriate, but there might be more to it than that. Regardless, the piece is well sculpted and seems like a pretty good match for his look from the movie. Kane’s paintwork is very nicely done. Everything is nice and clean, and all the colors seem just right. The likeness isn’t spot on, but I’d chalk that up to Hurt’s likeness not transferring to the style. The eyes and mouth are definitely right. Kane includes a facehugger, a chestburster, an extra head, and a clear display stand. The facehugger is a little difficult to get on at first, but it’s very well sculpted and it even features the appropriate detailing on the inside. The chestburster and extra head allow for a recreation of the memorable “birth scene.” The ‘burster is well sculpted and fits pretty well in place. It also covers enough of his torso to make this look like the appropriate uniform, so kudos to DST on that!

PARKER

Alien35th4Parker probably marks the set’s oddest inclusion, as he’s not a character who’s incredibly key to the plot. That said, he’s one of the last survivors, and my personal favorite character, so no complaints there. This figure has the notoriety of being the first Parker figure ever, so that’s cool. Parker is about 2 ½ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation. He’s based on Parker’s look roughly mid-movie, after he’s ditched his coat. The figure is built from the standard Minimate with a sculpted hairpiece. The piece is new to this figure and it’s a good translation of the look from the movie. Parker has a pretty decent paint job. His uniform is well detailed and everything is nice and clean. The only real issue I have is that his skin tone just seems to be too light for Yaphet Koto. This ends up throwing off the likeness, which is otherwise pretty spot-on. Parker includes a flamethrower, a flame attachment (though that could easily be paired with Ripley, too), and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This boxed set was a Christmas gift from my parents. I’m going to take a shot in the dark and say that it’s my last gift of the Christmas 2014 season. Obviously, this set, being based on the first movie, isn’t going to ignite me with the same excitement as the Aliens Minimates, but I do think they turned out pretty nicely. The real weak link of the set is definitely Ripley, who really isn’t accurate to her appearance in the first film. But hey, put a pulse rifle in her hands and you’ve got a pretty great Aliens Ripley, so it’s not a total loss!

#0463: Foot Soldier

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

FOOT SOLDIER

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES MINIMATES

You know what I haven’t reviewed enough of lately? Minimates! There have been a few Minimate reviews on the site recently, but they haven’t been from me, so I’ve kinda felt left out of the fun. But, never fear, I’m never too far from a Minimate to review!

A few months ago, I reviewed most of the figures in the K-Mart assortment of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Minimates. The only figure I was unable to find was the basic Foot Soldier. Well, I found him, so here he is!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Foot Soldier was released in the first series of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This particular figure is from the K-Mart assortment, but the Foot Soldier was available in all of the offered assortments. The Foot Soldier is about 2 ½ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation. Like the rest of the TMNT Minimates, the Foot Soldier is based on the design from the current Nickelodeon cartoon. The figure is built on the standard Minimate body, with non-standard upper arms and upper legs, both of which are shared with the Footbot, as well as a set of straps with a sheath for the sword attached (also shared with the Footbot) and a belt piece that holds a knife. Aside from the belt, these pieces are exactly the same as those on the Footbot. They were pretty great there, and they’re pretty great here. The belt is a rather basic piece, but it works, and it helps to differentiate the two figures. Like the sculpt, the paintwork on this figure is more or less identical to the Footbot. The Footbot exhibited some of the best work of the TMNT Minimates, so that’s hardly a bad thing. Everything is clean and the details are nice and bold. I still really love the way they handled the eyes; the detail is just fantastic. The biggest difference between this figure and the Footbot is the accessory selection. This figure includes a katana, a smaller blade, a switch blade, a clear display stand, and the Kmart/TRU exclusive keychain attachment.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After missing out on him in my initial purchase of the TMNT Minimates, I was able to track down the Foot Soldier at Super Awesome Girlfriend’s local Kmart. While it may not seem like the most exciting figure at first, especially since I already have the Footbot, I was pretty thrilled to get this figure. (Jess can attest to this; I may or may not have been sitting in the front seat of the car yelling “Foot Ninja” when I got this.)

#0462: The Governor

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

THE GOVERNOR

THE WALKING DEAD

So, last day of Walking Dead stuff (at least for a little while). In my review of Carol, I mentioned how the TV Show has really turned around my opinion of some of the comic characters who have made the transition.

The Governor in the comics generally seems to be a rather popular character. However, I’ve never really cared for him. To me, his over the top nature and the fact that he was completely devoid of any likeable traits just made the character rather annoying to read. In the show, he was given a much quieter demeanor and numerous episodes focusing on his rationale for the things he did. He was still a bad guy and he was still crazy, but he was a wildly more intriguing character. So, let’s have a look at the figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Governor was released in Series 6 of The Walking Dead TV-based line from McFarlane Toys. This marks the second Governor figure in the TV line, following his first figure in Series 4. The figure is a little over 5 inches tall (David Morrissey is a tall dude) and he has 23 points of articulation. Sadly, he’s the only (human) figure in this series not to get the new style hip joints, but his long coat would have restricted them anyway, so it’s not too bad. The first Governor figure was based on his look in early Season 3 (though a later look was possible with the extra eye-patched head), where as this one depicts him after he’s begun to sink more into his villainous side. In his default setup, this figure depicts the Governor from smack-dab in the middle of Season 3, but it can also represent the character’s later appearances. Starting with Series 5, each series of the line has one figure that’s built on a previous figure. The Governor takes that spot in this series. He makes use of the pelvis, legs, feet, and hands of the Series 4 Governor, as well as a slightly retooled torso, an all-new head and arms, and an add-on for his coat. Issues with the old hip articulation aside, the re-used pieces were all pretty good the first time around, and they add some nice consistency between the two figures. The new pieces are quite well sculpted, which is really great. The new head sits just a little bit too high on the neck, but the coat collar covers the issue for the most part, and the head itself is pretty fantastic. The head is really well detailed, and it’s a very good likeness of David Morrissey. Paint seems to be a pretty consistent issue with The Walking Dead figures, and the Governor is no exception. There’s a bit of slop, especially around the edges of the bandaging on the head, and the hands and lower face both have a rather inconsistent wash. Other than that, the paint is actually pretty good; the clothing is sufficiently detailed, and there’s lots of work done to bring out the details of the sculpt. The Governor includes an alternate head with an eye-patch (the same as the one included with the last Governor), an assault rifle, a handgun, and a knife. While the alternate head presents a more default look for the Governor, it’s not as well sculpted or as well painted as the bandaged one; it looks a little like his face is sliding off. The assault rifle is a nice piece, but the figure has some serious difficulty holding it, meaning he’s pretty much limited to the knife and the handgun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Governor was ordered via Amazon, along with Rick and Abraham. I have to admit, he was probably the figure I was least interested in this series, for whatever reason. In hand, that all changed. I can’t say that the Governor’s really any better than any of the other figures in the series, but for whatever reason, I just really like this figure. He just looks really cool!