Category Archives: Reviews

#0241: Iceman

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

ICEMAN

X-MEN

Iceman

I’m not quite sure how much I’ve touched on this, but Toybiz’s X-Men line from the 90s was incredibly important to forming my collecting habits. It was a very expansive line, and offered me the opportunity to own almost every character from the 90s cartoon in plastic form. To this day, it remains one of my all-time favorite lines of figures. Sure, some of the figure’s haven’t aged the greatest, but they instill me with lots of fond memories. Today, I’ll be taking a look at the coolest X-Man around, Iceman!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

This version of Iceman was actually released twice. Once in the third series of Toybiz’s X-Men line, and later as part of another X-Men line released exclusively to Kaybee Toys a few years later. This particular is from the later release, but the two figures are virtually indistinguishable. The figure stands just shy of 5 inches tall and features 9 points of articulation. The figure is based on Iceman’s classic design, but the cuffed boots seem to indicate his late silver age design. The figure is molded in clear plastic so as to replicate Bobby in his full ice mode, after he learned how to actually transform himself into ice. The sculpting is actually pretty good for an early 90s piece, though his hands do seem a little bit on the large side. Still, the figure has a grade blocky sculpt that really makes him look like he’s been chiseled out of ice. The paint work is pretty simple but what’s there is pretty good. They’ve used some white paint to do some “icicle” detailing. It looks a bit strange to be honest, but it’s not too apparent when the figure is on display. Iceman includes a stand shaped like an ice sled. There’s a block around the foot pegs that could be filled with water, which could in turn be frozen around the figure’s feet, allowing you to make an actual ice sled. It’s gimmicky, but it’s an entertaining gimmick at least.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure was purchased in the Balticon dealer’s room this past Memorial Day. This is actually the second of this figure I’ve bought. I got the first one years ago from Kaybee Toys. However, I used that one’s freeze gimmick numerous times, and little did I know that this would cause the figure’s clear plastic to become more brittle. My poor first figure’s legs bot snapped off at the hips, which was a serious bummer (that’s actually him in the Wilson photo; you can even see the apoxy holding his legs in place). When I saw this figure in a box with a bunch of other 5 inch X-Men, I was more than happy to once again have this guy in my collection. I certainly won’t be putting this one in the freezer!

#0240: The Assassin

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

ASSASSIN

SPEED RACER

Assassin

Continuing yesterday’s theme, today is another figure from the 60s cartoon Speed Racer. It’s another villainous figure, this time depicting the Assassin. Interestingly enough, they weren’t referred to assassins in the original Japanese version of the show. They were called ninja, the Japanese word for assassin. The group dubbing didn’t think the United States would get the concept, so they renamed them the more generic “assassins.” If only they’d known…

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Assassin was released as part of the second series of Resaurus’s Speed Racer line. He stands 5 inches tall and features 8 points of articulation. The figure is based on the appearance of the assassins from the episode “Gang of Assassins.” I suppose it technically counts as an army builder if one were so inclined. The Assassin features an entirely unique sculpt. The second series featured less pre-posed sculpts than the first, so the Assassin features a more generic stance. This allows the articulation to be more effectively utilized than on the figures in series one. The sculpt is an accurate representation of the look from the show, simplistic but still full of character. The highlight of the figure is his head sculpt, which perfectly captures the exaggerated proportions and expressions of a Speed Racer character. The paint work is decent overall, though the figure does suffer from some bleed over around the line between his face and his mask. The Assassin includes a handgun, a machine gun, a backpack, a rope, and a display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like Captain Terror, the Assassin is a recent addition to my collection, purchased in the Balticon dealer’s room this past Memorial Day. I’d seen this figure a few times over the years, but never got around to picking one up. He’s a pretty cool little figure, and I’m very glad I decided to finally buy one.

#0239: Captain Terror

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

CAPTAIN TERROR

SPEED RACER

CaptainTerror

Like Ultraman, it might be a bit surprising to find out that I’m a pretty big Speed Racer fan. It’s a bit before my time, but like many other such things, I became a fan nonetheless. My dad was a fan of the show in its initial run, and this, coupled with the convenient release of Resaurus’s toyline in the 90s and my status as a bit of an animation geek led to my love of the series. Today, I’ll be looking at one of Speed’s wacky foes from the show, Captain Terror!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain Terror was released as part of the first series of Resaurus’s Speed Racer line. He stands about 5 inches tall and features 9 points of articulation (if you count the moving head feather, which I totally do!). The figure is, obviously, based on Captain Terror’s design from the original Speed Racer TV show. He has a completely unique sculpt, which seems to capture the Captain’s design pretty well. He is a bit more detailed than his animated counterpart, but that’s actually a point in the figure’s favor. He has a cape add-on piece, sculpted to convey his cape in a windblown state. The character was depicted in such a way at least once, so it’s a nice touch. The paint work is superb. There isn’t any noticeable slop, and he has some nice washes to help bring out some of his details. Captain Terror includes a gun, a pair of binoculars, a walkie talkie, a roll of dynamite (with a working plunger!), and a display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Captain Terror was a recent acquisition for me. I picked him up from the dealer’s room at Balticon just this past Memorial Day. I actually remember looking at this figure when it was originally released, but for whatever reason I never got one. I’m happy to finally have the figure, and it’s certainly a fun addition to my collection.

#0238: Gambit & Psylocke

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

PSYLOCKE & GAMBIT

MARVEL MINIMATES

Gambit&Psylock

When in doubt, I always turn to Minimates. I find the reviews to generally be a bit easier to write and I can be a little more enthusiastic about them, so they make for better writing in general (at least I sure hope so…). Today marks another Marvel Minimates review. This time around, I’m pulling from the great big world of X-Men with loveable rogue (who is coincidentally loved by Rogue) Gambit, and psychic fighter Psylocke!

THE FIGURES THMSELVES

Psylocke and Gambit were released in series 28 of Marvel Minimates. Originally, this was meant to be series 26 and it would have served as a loose tie-in to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but it was pushed back to 28 when Diamond picked up the license to do Minimates directly from the movie.

PSYLOCKE

Psylocke is built on the basic Minimate body, which, means she stands about 2 ½ inches tall and she has 14 points of articulation. She’s based on Psylocke’s Jim Lee designed look from the early 90s, right around the time that she became Japanese (just go with it). She features two sculpted add-ons: a hair piece and a sash. The hair was originally sculpted for one of the BSG Starbucks, but it was actually released on Psylocke first. The sash may be a re-use, but I don’t know for sure. The paint work is pretty good overall, no slop or bleed over to speak of. One issue is the face seems a bit too narrow, like the paint mask wasn’t applied properly. Psylocke includes a katana, previously seen with Blade, and a “psy knife” which slips over her hand peg.

GAMBIT

Like Psylocke, Gambit is also built on the basic Minimate body. He’s based on Gambit’s default look through much of the 80s and 90s, which is the look most people associate with the character. The figure features a brand new trench coat piece, an all-new hair/headband piece, and a set of new boots. Lots of new stuff.  I do kind of wish that the bib wasn’t a part of the coat, but it looks pretty good. I do love how well they captured Gambit’s mop of unruly hair. The paint work is passable. There’s a bit of slop on the hands, and his face seems a tad too high on the head, but the torso detailing and the pink squares on the legs look great. Gambit included two spate hands with different charged cards and his fighting staff.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This is another set of Minimates I picked up from Cosmic Comix when it was first released. I had eagerly been awaiting series 28, especially after taking part in and winning several prizes in a contest to guess this and series 25’s lineups. This isn’t my favorite version of Psylocke, but it’s not too bad, and Gambit is a character I’ve had an attachment to ever since the 90s animated series.

#0237: Agent Jasper Sitwell & Batroc

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

AGENT JASPER SITWELL & BATROC

MARVEL MINIMATESJasper&Batroc

Today marks the final entry in my reviews of the Captain America: The Winter Soldier Minimates. It’s okay. We can get through this together. I started off a bit rocky with Classic Cap & Winter Soldier, regained some of my momentum with Black Widow & Falcon, and was more than pleased with Stealth Cap & Rumlow, but the excitement I have for this series has remained with me throughout all of my reviews. I’m a little sad that there aren’t a never ending supply of these figures to review, but I think I’ve saved the best for last here. Today, I’ll be looking at Agent Jasper Sitwell & Batroc. Due to the nature of this set, I’ll be getting into some SPOILERS for the movie, so if you haven’t seen it yet, you’ve been warned.

 

 

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Agent Sitwell and Batroc were released in Marvel Minimates Series 55, which was a tie-in to Captain America: The Winter Soldier. This set was released one per case, so it’s a little harder to come by than the other three.

AGENT JASPER SITWELL

JasperSitwellIn the comics, Jasper Sitwell was the SHIELD agent assigned to Tony Stark, he drove a flying car, and he was meant to be that “normal” guy amongst the crazy. Sound familiar? Yeah, Jasper was the proto-Coulson. When Coulson took his place in the movie-verse, I just assumed he’d be replacing Jasper outright. But, Marvel decided to put Jasper in the mix anyway, and he served as a supporting character in Thor and the first three Marvel One-Shots, before showing up on Agents of SHIELD, and eventually in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which proved to be his end, after he was revealed to be a covert Hydra agent. But, hey maybe he’s actually working for SHIELD…. and he could have totally survived being thrown in front of an oncoming tractor trailer. Yeah, I’m sure he’s fine.  Jasper was built on the standard Minimate body, so he has 14 points of articulation, and he stands about 2 ½ inches tall. He’s a mostly vanilla figure, with just a sculpted coat piece and tie, which have been seen on numerous suited figures before him. They do their job well enough, and look appropriate for a standard issue SHIELD suit. Paint is also pretty basic, with some paint for his tie and belt buckle, which look pretty decent, though there is some slop on the shirt collar from the tie. The best part of the figure is the detailing on the face, which is a spot on likeness of Maximiliano Hernàndez. Truly amazing work. Jasper includes a hand gun, a briefcase, and a clear display stand.

BATROC

BatrocGeorges Batroc, or as he’s known in the comics “Batroc the Leaper” (Batroc ze Leper if you go heavy on the French accent), is a character I never thought I’d see on the big screen. Even when I heard he was in the movie, I assumed he’d just be some generic thug who dressed in black. There was no way he’d actually leap around, right? Or wear even a semblance of his comic book costume, right? Well, I was wrong, and I’ve never been happier to be so. Batroc’s fight with Cap near the beginning is one of my favorite parts of the movie, hands down. Batroc is presented here in his look from that portion of the movie. He’s built on the standard Minimate body, with sculpted vest, belt, and holster add-ons. The holster is a re-use from Series 45’s Maria Hill, but the vest and belt look to be all-new. They look great, and are very accurate to Batroc’s gear from the film. Batroc features some superb paint work, with nearly every surface covered in detail. Most impressive is his head, which features his five-o-clock shadow and his buzz cut, both depicted through some excellent use of pointillism (every once in a while, my former art major kicks in). I also love the fact that the yellow and purple detailing of the uniform continues under the vest, giving you a decent start to a comic styled Batroc if you want one. Batroc includes a hand gun, and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Sadly, due to their one per case nature coupled with my being out of town, I was unable to get Jasper and Batroc with the rest of Series 55 from my local comicbook store (It’s okay, I’m fairly certain I know who got the set, and I know it went to a good home.) Fortunately, I was able to get ahold of one from Luke’s Toystore, my favorite Minimates retailer. I’m glad I was able to get this set because it’s the highlight of the series for me. Sure, the others are all solid sets, and I wouldn’t want to have missed any of them, but this set just makes me smile. Diamond could have easily phoned it in on these two, but they really brought their A-game, and this set is total win because of it.

I just wrote over 800 words about a Jasper Sitwell & Batroc the Leaper two-pack. Based on their appearance in a multi-million dollar film, no less! I cannot begin to tell you how much that thrills me.

BatrocVSCap

#0236: Captain America – Stealth Uniform & Brock Rumlow

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA – STEALTH UNIFORM & BROCK RUMLOW

MARVEL MINIMATES

Cap&Rumlow

You’ve read my reviews for the first two sets in the Captain America: The Winter Soldier Minimates line-up. Today’s part three. The excitement from the first two parts still remains, but I think I’ve gotten pretty good at keeping my composure. Hopefully. Anyway, I’m looking at yet another Captain America, plus SHIELD agent Brock Rumlow *SPOILER*

…one of the movie’s villains. Do they keep the excitement going? Let’s find out!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Cap and Rumlow were released as part of Marvel Minimates Series 55, which was done as a tie-in to this summer’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

CAPTAIN AMERICA – STEALTH UNIFORM

CapStealthCap is built on the standard Minimate body, which means he stands about 2 ½ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation. He’s based on Cap’s stealth look from the movie, which has also been referred to as his “STRIKE Team” look. It’s what he wears during the film’s opening mission and during most of his scenes at the SHIELD headquarters, and it’s also the look seen on most of the promotional stuff for the movie. To convey this look, the figure features sculpted helmet, shoulder harness, wrist straps and belt add-ons, in addition to the base Minimate body. The wrist straps appear to be a re-use from Series 34’s 90s Cyclops, but everything else looks to be brand-new to this figure. Everything seems to be accurate to Cap’s look in the film, and there is plenty of sculpted detail work on each piece. The paint work on Cap is pretty good, though there are a few spots of error. The silver detailing of the “A” on his helmet doesn’t quite line up with the sculpted boarders and there are a few instances of underlying colors not lining up with the detail lines. Also, the wings on the sides of his helmet have been left unpainted, but this seems to be consistent across all versions of this figure. Other than that, the paint work is very nice. All the detail lines are nice and crisp, the likeness on the face presents and uncanny resemblance to Chris Evans, and some of the small details on the uniform are nothing short of amazing. Cap is accessorized with a spare hairpiece, an extra hand for holding the shield, a display stand, and, of course, his mighty shield, this time in stealth colors.

BROCK RUMLOW

RumlowRumlow is built on the same base body as Cap, which means he has the same articulation and relative height. For those of you less in the know with Cap stuff, Rumlow is a SHIELD agent destined to become the villain Crossbones, who worked as the Red Skull’s right-hand man and has been a recurring Captain America villain for many years. His figure here is based on his look in the movie, in his “pre-Crossbones” form, and specifically takes Rumlow’s look from the movie’s final act. A lot of the figures in this series take their looks from that portion of the movie, so it’s nice to see Rumlow stick with the theme. Rumlow features sculpted hair, vest, belt, and holster add-ons to aid with the look. The hair is a re-use from Series 17’s Eddie Brock, and the holsters are from Series 45’s Maria Hill. The belt might be a re-use, but it’s a bit too generic for me to tell. The vest appears to be an all-new piece. All of these parts go together well, and result in a pretty much spot on figure of the character. The paint work on Rumlow is good, but not spotless. The paint on his gloves is splotchy and the edges of his boots have very fuzzy lines, but the detail work is superb, just like the rest of the series. The vest can be removed to show the straps that he had under his vest in the movie, which is a nice touch. Rumlow is accessorized with two hand guns, a sub machine gun, his electro-shock thingy, and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I’ve mentioned in previous reviews, I was out of town for the release of this series. Thankfully, my dad was nice enough to get a set of them for me, which was very cool of him. I really liked Cap’s stealth suit in the movie, so I’m happy to see that it turned out well, and that it wasn’t plagued by the same paint issues as the Classic Cap. I was also happy to get Rumlow, who has been over looked by other lines based on the movie. He was a fairly important character in the movie, and the Minimate is a great representation of him. All in all, this set is more in line with Widow and Falcon, which is a good thing. I’m happy to see Diamond putting such amazing work into this line.

#0235: Black Widow & Falcon

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

BLACK WIDOW & FALCON

MARVEL MINIMATES

Widow&Falcon

Okay, so I already went through my immense excitement at the existence of Captain America: The Winter Soldier Minimates yesterday. I shan’t subject you to that again. I’m still really excited, but I’m keeping my composure. Promise. Today, I’ll be looking at Cap’s two most trusted allies in the film, and the biggest push for me to get the Minimates: Black Widow and Falcon!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Widow and Falcon were released as part of Marvel Minimates Series 55, which was released as a tie-in series for Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

BLACK WIDOW

Widow

Black Widow is built on the standard Minimate body. This means she features 14 points of articulation and stands about 2 ½ inches tall. She’s presented here in her SHIELD jumpsuit look that she sports early in the film and in the final act. I was actually a bit surprised by how little she has this look, but it’s definitely the one to go for if you’re doing an action figure. She features six sculpted add-ons: hair, belt, two holsters, and two widow’s stingers. The holsters where originally used on the Avengers movie version of Widow, but I believe everything else is new to this figure. I was actually a bit surprised to see a new sculpt for the stingers, but I guess they thought they could use an update. The new pieces all look pretty great, with nice detail work and a decent amount of accuracy to the movie. The paint on Widow is pretty great. The detail lines are all really sharp, and the base paint is better here than it was on Cap. I did notice some slight bleed over from the whites of her eyes, but it’s actually not too bad, and it’s hardly noticeable. I also love the fact that they’ve given her a more “battle-ready” facial expression, as opposed to the more vacant expression a lot of female figures get. It really adds some character. Widow includes two hand guns and a clear display stand.

FALCON

FalconLike Widow, Falcon is built on the standard Minimate body, so he has the usual height and articulation. Falcon is based on the character’s look during the final act of the film. It’s the character’s true “Falcon” look, so it’s a good choice. He features eight sculpted add-ons: goggles, gloves, a jetpack/harness, two shoulder pad/upper wing pieces, and two lower wing pieces. With the exception of the gloves, which were previously seen on the Age of Ultron Nick Fury, all the pieces are brand new to Falcon. They all look pretty great, and are very accurate to the source material. I’ve seen a few complaints that the harness is too bulky, but the harness from the movie looks pretty bulky to me, so that seems about right. The paint work on Falcon is overall great, with one exception. While he head has a great likeness to actor Anthony Mackie, my figure has a clump of dried paint right on his forehead. Once the goggles are in place, it’s mostly unnoticeable, but it’s still kind of annoying. The rest of the paint work is really great, especially the camo work on his pants. Falcon includes two handguns (different from Widow’s), a flight stand, and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Just like with Cap and Winter Soldier, I was out of town for the release of this series. My dad was nice enough to pick them up for me, which was super awesome of him. I was a little let down by the Cap in the Cap & Winter Soldier set, so I wasn’t sure how the rest of the wave would turn out. I’m happy to say that neither of the figures in this set suffer from the same issues as Cap. That’s very important to me, because having these two particular characters in the same scale is what had me so excited for the Minimates to begin with. These two certainly did not disappoint!

#0234: Captain America – Classic & Winter Soldier

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA – CLASSIC & WINTER SOLDIER

MARVEL MINIMATES

Cap&WinterSoldier

I love Minimates. That’s no secret. I also loved Captain America: The Winter Soldier (I’ve seen it six times). These are things that have been said many times on this site. So why bring them up? BECAUSE I JUST GOT THE MINIMATES FROM CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDER! Whoa, sorry about that. I’m very excited. You see, short of spending an insane amount of money on the Hot Toys figures, the Minimates are the only way to get all of the main characters in a single scale. Plus they’re Minimates! Today, I’ll be kicking off my reviews of the series with the film’s two title characters: Captain America and The Winter Soldier!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This set was released as part of Marvel Minimates Series 55, which was a series based on the Captain America: The Winter Soldier film released this summer.

CAPTAIN AMERICA – CLASSIC

CapClassic

Cap, like just about every other Minimate, is built on the standard Minimate body. As such, he stands about 2 ½ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation. This figure depicts Cap in his “classic” costume from the movie, which is the one he wears during the last act of the film. It’s essentially his uniform from The First Avenger, but it tweaks the stripes on the abdomen, brightens the brown areas, and ditches the holster and side-arm from that film. The figure features sculpted helmet and belt add-ons to help facilitate the look. Both of these pieces appear to be new to this figure, sharply sculpted and look spot on to the movie. The paint work on this figure is a bit mixed. To Diamond’s credit, the detail line work is nothing short of amazing. All the lines are nice and sharp, and the level of detailing is just great! They’ve even succeeded in giving us a pretty great Chris Evans likeness. Unfortunately, the base paint work is not so great. The ends of his gloves are very uneven, the colors routinely go out of detail lines, and you can see that the A on the helmet is pretty far off center. Also, my Cap’s helmet has a smear of silver across the nose, which is incredibly distracting. Cap includes a spare hair piece, his mighty shield, a hand to attach the shield to, and a clear display stand.

WINTER SOLDIER

WinterSoldierUnmaskedWinter Soldier is built on the same basic body as Cap, so he has all the same stats there. He depicts the main Winter Soldier look in the film, the same one shown on all the other WS merchandise. Given its presence in most of the Soldier’s important scenes, I’ve got no complaints there. Bucky features five sculpted add-ons: Mask/Hair, shoulder gear, belt, and a holster for both legs. These pieces all look to be new to this figure, and they all seem to do an admirable job replicating Bucky’s look in the movie. The mask perhaps sits a bit too low, but it’s not so low that it ruins the figure. Bucky seems to have come out a bit better than Cap in the paint department. Like Cap, all of the detail lines are really sharp, and the work on the legs in particular is quite impressive. The Sebastian Stan likeness is much better this time than it was on Diamond’s version of Bucky from the first film. On a side note: Am I the only one that didn’t really notice the eye shadow in the movie? I saw it in one or two scenes, but it was mostly absent. Yet, every single figure has it caked on there. Fortunately, it’s handled pretty well here, nowhere near the monstrosity that was the Hasbro version. The best part of this figure is his accessory selection. He’s armed to the teeth, with a sniper rifle, two sub machine guns, a hand gun, and two knives, plus an alternate hairpiece without the mask and a clear display stand thrown in for good measure! One additional thing I might have liked to have seen is a hair piece without the goggles, to replicate his look from his first fight with Cap, but I wouldn’t want to be too greedy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This series was originally supposed to be released closer to the film’s opening weekend, but was met with a few delays. They were finally released the first week in June, while I happened to be out of town. Fortunately, my awesome dad picked them up for me the day they came out. He even brought them with him when he came to bring me home!

While I’m not quite as happy with the paint on Cap as I’d have liked, the overall work on these figures is pretty great, and Winter Soldier is at the very least the most accurate version of the character available, if not the best! I’m hopeful that the issues with Cap are more or less limited to my set, as I’d hate to see this be a widespread issue.

#0233: Wonder Man & She-Hulk

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

WONDER MAN & SHE-HULK

MARVEL MINIMATES

WonderMan&SheHulk

Hey! More Minimates! Everybody’s favorite! Yes, it’s another review based on a piece of my extensive Minimates collection. Once again, this one comes from the flagship line, Marvel Minimates. This time around, the set contains two Avengers, Wonder Man and She-Hulk. For those of you unfamiliar with the characters (like a certain screen writer currently in Warner Brothers’ employ), click the links in their names to read about them in the Backstories section.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of the series 16 of the Marvel Minimates line. The series was Avengers themed.

WONDER MAN

Wonder Man is built on the basic Minimate body, which means he has the usual 14 points of articulation and stands about 2 ½ inches tall. He’s based on the character’s look during John Byrne’s run on West Coast Avengers (the hair and stern expression are the easiest giveaways) but he can also pass for several similar looks he’s sported. He features brand new hair and belt add-ons. I’m not crazy about the hair, but it does fit the mullet he sported for some of Byrne’s run. The belt is a pretty much perfect representation of the one the character sported, so that’s cool. Wonder Man’s paint is basic, but has a sort of an elegant simplicity to it. I might have liked a slightly more jovial facial expression, but this one’s still a valid choice. The paint is cleanly applied overall, though there is a slight bit of fuzz on the lines of his boots. Wonder Man included no accessories.

SHE-HULK

Like Wonder Man, She-Hulk is built on the standard Minimate body, so she has the usual stats. She is represented here in her purple and white costume that she wore during her tenure in the Avengers in the early 2000s, as well as her solo series from the same time. Seeing as this was the look she sported during her best known stint on the Avengers, it makes sense to place it in an Avengers themed series. She features a sculpted hair piece, which is a re-use from Ultimate Storm, way back in series 3. The hair isn’t bad, but it does have a sculpted lightning-bolt earring, which looks out of place on She-Hulk. It’s odd because the prototype pictures showed her reusing the oft-used Spider Woman hair, which lacks such distinctive features. The change is a bit baffling. Shulkie has a decent set of paint apps, and has some nice line work on her face and torso. The face has the appropriate light expression that she’s been known to sport, and it looks pretty good. She features the same fuzzy lines issue as Wonder Man, but it’s not too distracting. She-Hulk included a bent metal bar, though it was a bit too big for her to hold properly.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

These were originally meant to be released on my birthday of that year. They ended up being pushed back about a month, but my Dad bought them for me anyway, just a bit late. They’re certainly older figures, but they aren’t horribly dated, especially if you can find some better hair pieces for the two of them. Wonder Man has always been one of my favorite Avengers, so I was glad to get him, especially so early into the line. She-Hulk is pretty cool, too, and great for people who are big fans of the character!

#0232: Johann Kraus

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

JOHANN KRAUS

HELLBOY

I came in somewhat late to the Hellboy scene. My first interaction with the characters and story was the release of the first Hellboy movie in 2004. I saw the movie with a group of friends and had no expectations at all. I actually thought that Abe Sapien was supposed to be the villain! Anyway, the movie was really good, and I was hooked on all things Hellboy. Mezco Toys had the license for the movie, and I picked up a few figures from that line, and then Mezco decided to move onto a line of figures based on the comicbooks. Today, I’ll be looking at that line’s version of the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense’s resident expert on ectoplasmic stuff, Johann Kraus.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Johann was released as part of the second series of comicbook-inspired Hellboy line from Mezco Toys. He stands a little over 7 inches tall and features 15 points of articulation. He’s based on Johann as Mike Mignola drew him. Seeing as Mignola originated the design, that’s a good call. The sculpt does a pretty good job of translating Mignola’s 2D drawings to 3D, which was no easy feat, I’m sure. They’ve incorporated some great texture work all around, which captures the gritty look of the series very nicely. The paint is serviceable, with some pretty decent dry brushing all around. They’ve used a semi-translucent paint on his head, which works nicely to capture his ectoplasmic look. Sadly, my figure has a scratch on his face, which brings the work down a bit, but I’d be exceptionally happy were that not the case. Johann included a spare set of hands to simulate his ectoplasmic powers at work.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Johann from my local comic store (Cosmic Comix) when series two was first released. Shortly after the release of the first Hellboy movie, I picked up an issue of Hellboy Weird Tales, which among other things, contained a story that focused on Johann. It was my first interaction with the character, and I enjoyed him immensely. So, when the figure came out I knew I definitely wanted one. I never got any of the other comicbook Hellboy figures, but Johann is still very entertaining, and a great representation of the character.