Category Archives: Reviews

#0142: D’Anna & Apollo

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

D’ANNA & APOLLO

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA MINIMATES

We’re continuing with my old faithful of lines to review, Minimates.  This time around, I’m taking a look at a set from the BSG series of Minimates.  BSG Minimates were a line that Diamond really wanted to see succeed in spite of a just mild reception from the fan base.  Pretty much every major character from the series was released at some point, which is a pretty decent feat, but the first 4 waves of the line can still pretty much be found for exceptionally low prices.  Two additional waves were originally announced to continue the line and pretty much wrap up any missing characters, but orders proved too low.  Then, for some reason, TRU came to the rescue, and granted the line two more waves, a reboot of sorts.  The Toys R Us waves are generally seen as being far superior to the preceding waves, and can still command some decent prices.  Today, I’ll be taking a look at one of the TRU sets.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of first TRU wave of BSG Minimates.

D’ANNA

First up is one of the series 12 human Cylon models, D’Anna Biers aka Three.  Three had quite a following, due to being played by fan favorite Lucy Lawless.  She’s presented here in her all white get-up, which I believe is what she wore following her model being reactivated later in the series.  She’s built on the standard Minimate body, so she has 14 points of articulation and stands about 2 ½ inches tall.  She features 3 sculpted add-ons: hair, coat, and skirt.  The skirt is a generic piece that’s been seen on a number of female ‘mates, but the hair and coat appear to be new.  I’m not a big fan of the coat, as I feel it’s needlessly bulky, but the hair looks pretty spot on for the character’s appearance on the show.  The paint is minimal on this figure.  She’s got face and torso detailing and that’s about it.  The face is nice, and looks pretty close to Lawless, certainly much better than Diamond’s first attempt. The torso detailing is nice, and allows you to display D’Anna without the coat.  D’Anna included no accessories.

APOLLO

Next up  is one of the central characters of the series, Lee “Apollo” Adama.  This was Lee’s 3rd Minimate, and his 2nd in his flight suit.  The figure appears to be based on his look in the final season of the show after he quit being a pilot for a while and had lost his more close cropped military hair.  Originally, the head was meant to go on a suited body to represent him from earlier in the season, but he’s been put in a flight suit, giving him an appearance close to what he had in the series finale.  He features 4 sculpted add-ons: hair, flight vest, belt, and holster.  All the flight suit stuff is reused from the previous flight suit characters, which makes sense.  The hair is a new piece, and it looks pretty good and has a lot of potential reuse.  The paint is fine, though, all the lines and such are clean.  The metallic green of the flight suit is also of a higher quality than previous pilots, so it’s less prone to chipping.  I think that this ‘mate has a closer resemblance to actor Jamie Bamber than the previous two, which is cool I guess.  Apollo includes a flight helmet and a hand gun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up this set at my local Toys R Us (which is no longer there.  They just moved it across the street, but they had this big “store closing” sale, and deeply clearance everything.  It was weird.)  when they were released.  I know the series had ended not long before and I was fairly excited to get these guys at the time.  They’re still very good Minimates, but I’ve lost a lot of my interest in BSG, so they mostly all sit in a box these days.

#0141: Power Girl & Doctor Fate

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

POWER GIRL & DOCTOR FATE

DC MINIMATES

So, I know in my review of Thor and Absorbing Man I said that it was the last of my “New” Minimate reviews for a while.  I’m not deviating from this.  However, I have lots of old Minimates.  And I have a randomized list from which I draw the order of my reviews.  And I dare not deviate from the list.  So, I’m gonna be totally up font here:  There’s a lot of Minimate reviews on the horizon.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s jump to what I’m looking at today.  This is my third look at the tragically short DC Minimates.  I was a big fan of these guys, and they are actually the line that officially got me hooked on Minimates in general.  But, they were one of the few Minimates lines to be outsourced, being handled by DC Direct instead of Diamond.  DC decided to pull the plug and then they were gone.  Today’s focus is two of the slightly more obscure characters in the line, though they were both a bit higher profile at the time: Power Girl and Doctor Fate.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two figures were part of the 2nd series of DC Minimates.

POWER GIRL

First, it’s a character that was really big for a few years there, but seems to have fallen back into the background, Power Girl.  Power Girl is present here in her look from the early 2000s, when she was a prominent member of the Justice Society and was at the height of her popularity.  She doesn’t look too different from her earliest incarnation, but her costume does noticeably have the seams that were very present at that time.  She’s built on the typical Minimate body, so she stands about 2 ½ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation.  She has 4 sculpted add-ons: hair, gloves, and a torso/cape combo.  All of these were new to the figure, though the gloves were shared with two other figures in the wave.  The hair is well done, and really looks like her hair at the time.  The torso is…odd.  Power Girl is commonly depicted as having large…assets, which is difficult to show on a block figure.  So they gave her a sculpted torso piece, I guess to make her torso larger.  It doesn’t really work the way they were hoping, and she just ends up looking too bulky.  The painted details are all pretty good and everything is cleanly applied.  The figure included no accessories.

DOCTOR FATE

Next, it’s Doctor Fate, who is a guy who does stuff with magic.  And is a doctor, I guess.  Maybe he has a doctorate in magic?  I know the original Fate was a doctor of archeology, but this is the third version of the character, and I don’t believe he had any legit claims to “doctor-hood.”  Anyway, as I mentioned, this is the third version of the character, which is the version that was running around at about the time this figure was released.  The figure is built on the standard body, so he’s got the usual stats.  Fate’s got 4 sculpted add-ons: Helmet, cape, and gloves.  The gloves are shared with Power Girl, but the helmet and cape are unique to this figure.  They both look really cool, and help to make this figure one of my favorites in the line.  The paint detailing is really sharp on this figure, with lots of really bold lines that really help with that “comic book” feel.  Fate includes a spare hairpiece, so he can be displayed without his helmet.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like with all of the DC Minimates, I picked this set up from my local comic book store when it was released.  This is an interesting set because it includes Power Girl, one of the few DC Minimates I don’t really think is all that, and Doctor Fate, one of my absolute favorites in the line and one of my favorite Minimates in general.  What a dilemma!

*By the way, you’ll notice that this review doesn’t feature separate shots of each minimate with it’s different looks to accomany it’s personal reveiw block like my recent round of Minimates did.  To keep up with the daily posting schedule, most of my shots of figures that I use in reviews were taken months or even a year ago.  Initially, I had planned on shooting all of my Minimates in the sets they were released in, so there were no solo shots.  Recently, given the structure of  my reviews, I’ve found that I actually prefer having the solo shots, so I’ve started taking them.  But, I don’t really have the time to go back and retake all of the Minimates photos, so the older stuff will just have the group photos.  Sorry everybody!

#0140: The Penguin

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

PENGUIN

DC: SUPER POWERS

Alright, I’m going back to my list of figures I already own for reviews.  This time it presented me with a figure from my modestly-sized DC: Super Powers collection.  For those of you unfamiliar with Super Powers, it was the first really intensive DC Comics toyline, and still is considered to be the best by a fair number of people.  I missed it in its initial run, but got into it because it was the only source of a Hal Jordan Green Lantern, Barry Allen Flash, or even a Wonder Woman when I was growing up.  I’m not reviewing any of those today, though.  Nope, I’m reviewing the Penguin.

In the entirety of my 2500 piece action figure collection, I own THREE Penguin figures, on yet somehow I’ve looked at two of the three before looking at a single version of characters of which I own dozens of figures.  I don’t even like the Penguin!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Penguin was released in the first wave of Super Powers figures.  He’s based on the classic Penguin look, before he was tweaked to more resemble the Danny Devito version of the character.  The figure stands a bit over 4 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation.  The sculpt is pretty good, with all of Penguin’s features carefully laid out.  He’s a simplistic figure, but the figure still has some decent folds and such, just everything is very smooth in texture.  The paint on the figure isn’t anything astounding, but it looks pretty good for the time, and everything is clean and within the lines. There’s pretty much no bleed-over or anything.  Each figure in the Super Powers line features some sort of action feature, usually activated by squeezing the arms or legs.  In Penguin’s case, when the legs are squeezed, his right arm lunges upward, which is dubbed his “Power Action Umbrella Arm.”  Penguin included a two piece umbrella, of which I only own the top piece.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This is a pretty cool figure, I guess, even if I’m not the biggest fan of the character.  He’s certainly not the greatest that the line had to offer, and I doubt any one would bring him up as one of the reasons the line is well remembered, but it’s a decent entry in the line.  Not the best, not the worst.

I actually ended up with two of this figure, believe it or not.  I swear I don’t like the Penguin!  Anyway, I got the first one for like $3 at my local Comicon, I think, but he was missing the coat tails and umbrella, and just had an “okay” paint job.  A few years later, I found a pretty decent Super Powers Batmobile for $40 and it included Batman, Robin, Joker, and Penguin.  I bought the lot solely for the Batmobile, but the Penguin included part of the umbrella and had the coat tails piece, plus he had a better paint job to boot.  Unfortunately, the figures stank to high heavens of cigarette smoke, so Penguin had to be quarantined in a bag of cat litter for 24 hours.  In case you were wondering, cat litter absorbs the smell of smoke, I don’t just willy-nilly place action figures into bags of it!

#0139: Thor & Absorbing Man

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THOR – MARVEL NOW & ABSORBING MAN

MARVEL MINIMATES

Okay, this should be the last of my “new Minimates” reviews for a little while.  I’m certain some of the older stuff will pop up on the random list of figures, but that’s different.  Anyway, it’s the other half of my review of the latest Toys R Us exclusive Marvel Minimates wave, this time featuring Thor and one of his old foes, the Absorbing Man.  For those of you who don’t know who that is: He’s a man who absorbs things.  There, you’re up to speed.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of the 18th Toys R Us exclusive wave of the Marvel Minimates line.

THOR

First up, it’s Thor, the God of Thunder!  Thor is depicted here in his “Marvel Now!” look from the more recent selection of Marvel comics.  It’s not a big deviation from his usual looks, but it’s different enough to warrant a release.  Thor is built on the basic Minimate body, so he stands about 2 ½ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation.  Thor features 7 sculpted add-ons: helmet/hair, spiky bracelets, cape, belt/skirt, and boots.  The boots and cape are reused from the Marvel Vs Capcom 3 version of Thor and the bracelets come from that line’s version of Chun Li.  The helmet and belt/skirt are new to this figure and they appear to be accurate to Thor’s most recent design.  The belt has some really great texturing, and the helmet has some very cool etched lines.  The paint on Thor is pretty good.  There’s a little bit of slop here and there, particularly on his helmet, but all of the detail lines are nice and clean.  One area that does really bug me is the spikes on the bracelets.  The sliver is just haphazardly applied, and it makes him look rather sloppy.  Thor includes a spare set of arms detailed with chainmail sleves that match his legs, his trust hammer Mjolnir, and a clear display stand.

ABSORBING MAN

Absorbing Man is next up.  Absorbing man is often grouped as a Hulk villain, but he began his life as a Thor villain, so he makes sense here.  Curiously, his last Minimate was packed with Captain America, so I guess the Avengers just pass him around.  Absorbing Man’s been released in the Marvel Minimates line once before, but that was way back in wave 5 of the main line (Which just hit 54!), so the update is much appreciated.  The figure is built on the typical Minimate body, so he has the usual stats, though the sculpted add-ons can potentially bring his height up and his articulation down.  In the bulked up form (which I’m going with as default, since that’s how he’s packaged), he features 11 sculpted add-ons:  torso cover, two different sculpted hands, two different sculpted upper arm covers, a pelvis cover, a torso extender, thigh covers, and bulked up feet.  Let’s start with the reuse: the torso, pelvis, and upper leg covers are generic bulked-up pieces that have been used numerous times before; the feet originally appeared on Wave 44’s Smart Hulk; the right hand and upper arm came from the most recently released version of the Thing.  The left upper-arm is an all new piece, and isn’t a slip over, and the hand has been sculpted to match.  I think the idea is for them to look like tree bark, but I’m not 100% sure.  The paint is overall well applied, though the prison stripes can be a bit fuzzy in a few places, and there is the issue of the right arm still obviously being of a rocky texture even though it’s painted flesh tone.  I feel that a special mention needs to go to the head which really just looks like ol’ Crusher Creel to me.  Absorbing Man includes a spare set of arms, hands and feet to transform him back to normal, plus his old ball and chain, and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

These two came from the same TRU trip as the last set, which means that I also scored them for $3.98.  Even at full price, I feel this set is a worthy purchase.  It’s not my favorite Thor, but it does round out the main Avengers in their Marvel Now! looks, and Absorbing Man is an amazing update on the previous figure.  At full price, I would have been content; at $4, these were a steal!

#0138: Wolverine & Ultron Drone

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

WOLVERINE – AGE OF ULTRON & ULTRON DRONE

MARVEL MINIMATES

After a brief break, I’m jumping back into the Minimates reviews.  The Toys R Us trip mentioned in yesterday’s review of Tyreese was not made to track down Tyreese, but rather to track down the latest Toys R Us exclusive wave of Marvel Minimates.  This wave was a bit of a mixed bag as far as character choices, and today I’ll be looking at the set released to compliment the Age of Ultron Set I reviewed last week.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two figures were released as part of the 18th Toys R Us exclusive wave of the Marvel Minimates line.

WOLVERINE

First, it’s everyone’s favorite mutant who has claws and is the best there is at what he does, Wolverine!  Wolverine was effectively the main character of the Age of Ultron crossover, and I’m going to avoid making a comment on that so as to not bring out the nerd rage.  Wolverine is based on his look from the series, which is kind of an inverse of his usual costume, and bears a little bit of resemblance to his Ultimate X-Men incarnation.  There’s a lot of black.  He’s built on the basic Minimate body, so he stands about 2 ½ inches tall and he has the standard 14 points of articulation.  He’s got 4 sculpted pieces: hair, hood, and clawed hands.  The hair and hands appear to be the same ones used on the Marvel Now! Wolverine released in TRU wave 16.  The hood is a new piece, and it’s alright.  It’s just a basic hood, so I can see it getting some more use down the line, especially if Diamond wants to do a 90s Scarlet Spider or something.  Wolverine has a decent amount of painted details, all of which are applied cleanly.  The work on the musculature using gray is actually pretty cool.  The face is definitely not one of my favorites, though.  It just looks a bit strange and the lack of eyebrows weirds me out.  Wolverine’s only accessory is a clear display stand.

ULTRON DRONE

Next, it’s the Ultron Drone, hero of the… yeah, it’s just a generic Ultron Drone, which there were a bunch of in the Age of Ultron series.  There you have it.  He’s based on the drones that appeared in the early issues of the cross over.  It’s not a bad design, I suppose, plus it’s Ultron, who is always cool.  The figure is built on the standard body and has all the basics.  He features two sculpted add-ons: head and belt-thingy.  The head piece is the same one seen on the Conqueror Ultron in the main boxed set, while the belt/torso extender is a new piece.  The paint detailing a very nice on this figure, with a nice gold coating covered with some pretty cool detail work.  The face is different on the drone than on Conqueror Ultron, but I actually think I like the drone a little bit more.  Like Conqueror Ultron, the Drone features a face detailing under the helmet.  It’s the same as the one on the helmet, but it’s presented on a clear orange head.  The Ultron drone includes an orange flight base and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like I mentioned in the intro, I got these guys from Toys R Us on the same trip in which I acquired Tyreese.  I actually didn’t see this set at first and was a little bummed I had missed it, but found it hidden in another aisle.  And, thanks to Toys R Us’s zany clearance system, the set was only $3.98.  And that’s really cool because it means I only paid for one of the figures, which is great because I really like Ultron but have no need for “stealthy Wolverine.”

#0137: Tyreese

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

TYREESE

THE WALKLING DEAD

So, you know what’s on tonight?  That’s right, The Walking Dead is on tonight.  Unless you’re reading this after the initial posting.  In which case, it isn’t.  Unless you have it Tivo-ed….

Sorry, I’m attempting to be relevant.  I don’t get to be very often.  So, yeah, The Walking Dead is a pretty popular show which I enjoy.  And it also has action figures.  I hadn’t really gotten into the line.  I looked at a few of them, but nobody really grabbed me.  I had seen series 5 online, and I was somewhat interested in Glen and Maggie, but there was one figure I didn’t think I needed: Tyreese.  I never cared for the character in the comic, and he hadn’t really done much for me on the show.  And then the second episode of season 4.5 aired, and 30 seconds into his first scene, Tyrese performed an action that instantly made him my favorite character on the show.  And wouldn’t you know it, it was just in time for his action figure to be released.  That was pretty convenient timing!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Tyreese was released as part of the 5th series of McFarlane’s The Walking Dead TV Series line.  Obviously, he’s based on Tyreese’s appearance on the show.  He stands about 5 inches tall and features 24 points of articulation.  I don’t usually discuss the articulation, but I do have a few points to make.  First off, the shoulders are done in such a way as to prevent them from getting a full range of motion on the hinge joint.  They can’t quite make it to 90 degrees, which is a bummer.  Secondly, the leg articulation is practically useless due to the limited range of the ball jointed hips.  Neither of these things ruins the figure, but it does knock him down a bit.  Anyway, on to the sculpt.  The sculpting looks pretty good, and the proportions look really nice.  At first glance, his head seemed a little big, but then I realized that it’s probably just me being used to the skewed proportions on superhero figures.   The likeness of actor Chad L. Coleman is quite good.  The paintwork is good overall, but not perfect.  One thing that bugs me in particular is the work on the eyes, which are just a little bit off, making Tyreese look like he has a lazy eye.  The sweat stains on the front of his shirt could also stand to be a little subtler, but they aren’t bad as is.  The rest of the work is fairly clean, though there is some minor bleed in a few places.  Tyreese is armed with a hammer, a rifle, and a handgun.  The rifle and handgun are a bit awkward, since Tyreese doesn’t really have hands sculpted to hold them, but the hammer is absolutely perfect.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up Tyreese at my local Toys R Us.  He and Maggie were the only two sitting on the shelf, and I decided to hold off getting Maggie until I can track down a Glenn.  But given my newfound fandom of Tyreese, I felt compelled to buy the figure.  It has its flaws, but it’s a really cool figure, and I definitely have been pulled into this line!

#0136: Young Avengers

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PATRIOT, IRON LAD, ASGARDIAN, & HULKLING

MARVEL LEGENDS (TOYBIZ)

Today, I’m once again venturing into the land of Toybiz’s Marvel Legends.  I’ve actually stated to dread these reviews a little because I was quite fond of these figures when they were released, but looking back at them takes away all the nostalgia.  It doesn’t help that most of them are also accompanied by a story of how difficult they were to acquire.  Some of the figures still hold up, though, and occasionally some of them even lack the frustration inducing stories.  The Young Avengers set is actually one of those.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These guys were released as a boxed set during the final year of ToyBiz’s possession of the Marvel license.  They’re based on their appearance in the first issue of the original Young Avengers, which was also included with the set.

PATRIOT

First up, the effective leader of the team, Patriot.  Patriot was Eli Bradley, the grandson of Isaiah Bradley who was the “Black Captain America.”  He acquired the Super Soldier serum thanks to a blood transfusion from his grandfather.  He’s shown here in his original costume, which was patterned after Bucky’s costume.  It’s not the costume he spent the majority of his appearances in, but it’s actually my favorite of his two costumes.  Patriot stands about 6 inches tall and features 38 points of articulation.  Amazingly for a Marvel Legends sculpt, everything is actually well proportioned.  My only complaint would be that his feet are probably at tad too big, but the rest looks good.  The detail on the uniform is great, with lots of great little wrinkles and folds.  The head is also spot-on to Jim Cheung’s art on the series.  The paint work is all nicely done, with no real issues.  I do wish they had used differently colored pins for the lower knee articulation because the black actually ended up bleeding into the white plastic around it.  Patriot included the original Captain America shield and a display stand with his picture on it.  Small issues aside, Patriot’s my favorite figure in the set, in spite of being my least favorite of the characters.

IRON LAD

Ah, yes Iron Lad.  Remember how Patriot was my favorite figure and least favorite character?  Iron Lad is the exact opposite.  I loved the character, but the figure’s just eh…  Anyway, Iron Lad is actually a young Kang the Conqueror.  For those of you not in the know, Kang is one of the Avengers’ greatest adversaries.  Iron Lad found out who he was destined to become and rebelled.  The first arc of the series largely deals with the ramifications of this.  Iron Lad stands about 6 inches tall and features 30 points of articulation.  He doesn’t put his articulation to very good use, as some key points are missing, leaving him stuck in some awkward positions.  Iron Lad’s armor did have a tendency to change around a little bit, so I guess he was a bit hard to capture.  The head is great.  It looks just like the character.  Sadly, the body’s a mess.  The proportions are a mess, and the articulation is incredibly obvious.  The paint is also quite sloppy, which doesn’t do the sculpt any favors.  Iron Lad included a display stand with his picture on it.  I don’t hate this figure, but I wish it had turned out a little better.

ASGARDIAN

Next up is Asgardian, or as he’s been known in every appearance following the first arc, Wiccan.  He’s Billy Caplan, and he’s the reincarnated spirit of one of the Scarlet Witch and Vision’s deceased children.  It makes more sense in context.  Billy stands about 6 inches tall and features 35 points of articulation.  The sculpt looks pretty good, and his body sculpt is probably the best in the set.  All the proportions look about right, which is cool.  His head sculpt isn’t quite as nice as the other two, but it’s not terrible by any stretch.  The paint isn’t the best in the set, but it’s passable.  There’s a few spots with some noticeable slop, and the paint on the arms is super thick, but it doesn’t look too bad.  Asgardian included a staff and a display stand with his picture on it.

HULKING

Lastly, it’s Billy’s boyfriend Hulkling.  Hulkling is also the offspring of Kree Captain Mar-Vell and the Skrull Princess, so there’s that.  Hulkling stands closer to 7 inches and features 34 points of articulation.  The sculpt is pretty good, and super textured.  Like, there are no smooth areas on this guy.  Even his arms have a pretty cool skin texture.  The head is spot on to Jim Cheung’s drawings of the character, and all the proportions look appropriate to the character.  My only real complaint is that the hands look oddly flat, which looks a bit weird from certain angles.  Hulkling’s paint is all very well applied, with no noticeable slop, and some rather nice dry-brushing.  Hulkling includes a stand with his picture on it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was very excited for this set when it was released.  I had been following the comic and was very happy to see them on display at Toy Fair that year.  I received this set form my parents for Christmas and have greatly enjoyed it since.  When I packed up my Marvel Legends a few years ago, it was amongst the very last of the items put away.  My greatest complaint about this set is that we never got the remaining members of the team.

#0135: John Stewart – Green Lantern

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

JOHN STEWART – GREEN LANTERN

DC: INFINITE HEROES

So, I’m taking a short break from all the Minimate-y goodness I’ve just gotten and looking at a few other figures in my collection.  This one’s not a new figure, nor is it one of my favorites.  But I own it, and it’s on the list of random figure choices from which I dare not deviate.

Mattel is a company I’ve mentioned a few times before on this site.  They aren’t really my favorite topic, as I have a tendency to go off on rants when I bring them up.  They just recently started up a new 3 ¾ inch scale line of figures.  This is actually their second venture into this scale.  Their first was called DC Infinite Heroes, and was widely seen as a pretty big failure on their part.  It didn’t last as long as some of their other lines, but it went a few years, and did release a fair number of figures.  I’ll be looking at one today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

So, it’s John Stewart.  Earth’s 3rd or 4th Green Lantern, depending on how you look at it.  Not the host of The Daily Show.  Sorry if it’s confusing.  John was released as part of a Green Lantern themed 6 pack.  The set was released relatively early on in the life of the Infinite Heroes line.  The figure stands about 3 ¾ inches tall and has 10 points of articulation.  Like most of Mattel’s DC toy lines, DCIH operated on the buck system, meaning every figure was built on one of the few stock bodies.  Unfortunately, the stock bodies for DCIH aren’t anywhere near as nice as those used for DCUC or even Justice League Unlimited.  John was built on the slightly larger male body.  This is okay, since John tends to be depicted a little bigger than Guy and Hal, but the body itself is probably one of the worst of the stocks.  The waist is super tiny, the arms are bulky and stubby, and the hands are GARGANTUAN.  The only new piece here was the head, and it doesn’t do much to improve the figure.  I’m not really sure what look they were going for, but John looks sort of like he was kicked in the crotch while eating a whole pack of Sour Patch Kids.  I’d love to say the paint helps the figure, but it just makes things worse.  For some reason, they gave John brown hair and eyebrows, which makes his whole heal look a bit…mushy.  Plus, his eyebrows kinda give off a weird Vulcan vibe.  The paint is particularly sloppy on the wrists, and for some reason his boots are an entirely different shade of green than the rest of his uniform.  John includes no accessories, which is a shame because they might have added some value to this figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t remember where I got this figure exactly.  I know at one point I had the whole set, but I think I sold most of the others off.  I don’t know why I kept him.  I think I just wanted to have John represented in this scale.  Infinite Heroes wasn’t a very good line, but there were a few figures that didn’t totally suck.  John is not one of those figures.

#0134: Doctor Smith & B-9 Robot

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

DOCTOR SMITH & B-9 ROBOT

LOST IN SPACE MINIMATES

The Marvel Minimates reviews wrapped up yesterday (well… sort of.  For a few days anyway.), but I’m not quite done with my new Minimates reviews!  Last year, Diamond picked up the license to sci-fi classic Lost in Space.  I was really excited!  Finally, a Joey Tribbiani Minimate!  I kid, I kid.  Anyway, they seem to be a bit apprehensive of diving into the line, so for the time being, we’ve only gotten Dr. Smith and the Robot.  This amuses me because they were the only two of the main characters completely absent from the original pilot for the series, and now it looks like they’ll probably be the only characters we receive from the show.  Kinda funny.  Anyway, the duo was initially released in black and white for SDCC, but they’ve just now released them in color, which is what I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as a single set in the Lost in Space Minimates line, with no corresponding series.  So, there.

DOCTOR SMITH

Have no fear, Smith is here!  Yes, first up, it’s the villain turned loveable coward, Doctor Zachary Smith.  Smith is based on his look a little ways into the series, after he had unofficially been added to the crew, and had received his own colorful uniform.  Well, maybe not as colorful as the rest, but still pretty out there.  He’s built on the basic Minimate body, so he features 14 points of articulation and stands about 2 ½ inches tall.  He features two sculpted add-on: his hairpiece, and a collar piece.  The collar is reused from the Captain Pike figure included with the Enterprise.  The hair looks to be a newly sculpted part, and looks about right for the hairstyle that Jonathan Harris sported, though it may be a little full in the front.  The majority of the details rely on the paint, which is handled quite well.  All of the detail lines are sharp, and the basic paintwork is also pretty clean, with no slop.  The face has captured Smith pretty darn well, with a perfectly in character smug smirk.  Smith includes a laser gun, a clear display stand, and coolest of all: heads with alternate expressions!  There’s angry Smith and scared Smith, both important and frequent looks for the character, and both just as good as the standard head.

B-9 ROBOT

Okay, the package and all other material refers to this guy as the “B-9 Robot,” but let’s be honest: he’s THE ROBOT.  Plain and simple.  In a pinch, he might be “The Lost in Space Robot,” or “Robut,” depending on how you interpret Billy Mumy’s pronunciation of the word.  But I’m just calling him “The Robot.”  So, the Robot is based on his standard look from the show.  He never really changed like some of the other characters, but there were a few one-off looks he sported in a few episodes, so it’s an importand distinction.  The Robot is also built on the basic body, though the sculpted parts bring the articulation closer to 10.  The Robot’s kinda the anti-Smith in the sculpting department.  It’s easier to list what isn’t a new sculpted piece.  Seriously, he uses the standard arms and legs.  That’s it.  All the sculpted pieces look great, and are appropriately on model for the character.  This figure is an interesting case for Minimates, as it’s one of the few times a character’s design just won’t translate to the format without some serious use of unique parts.  I think they made the right call, but I can see how some people might think he takes away from the basic aesthetic of a Minimate.  The paint isn’t quite as good as the sculpt, with a few areas of slop here and there.  Nothing that ruins the figure, but it does pull him back a bit.  The Robot features no accessories, but that’s okay, given how many sculpted pieces he features.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I really love this set.  It makes me kind of sad that we likely won’t see anymore, because having the whole crew would be super awesome.  I’m a lifelong Lost in Space fan (it’s all my father’s fault), and I have always been on the lookout for cool toys from the series.  I can only hope that the sales on this set might encourage Diamond to release some of the others.

#0133: Baron Strucker, Viper, & Hydra Elite

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

BARON STRUCKER, MADAME HYDRA & HYDRA ELITE

MARVEL MINIMATES

 

I’ll be wrapping up my reviews of the most recent wave of Marvel Minimates today.  This wave is based around Captain America.  I’ll be looking at a few of his recurring foes today, all of whom are members of the deadly Hydra organization.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These figures were released as part of the 54th wave of the Marvel Minimates line.  Baron Strucker was the more widely packed figure, with Madame Hydra as the one per case variant and both of them packed with one of the Hydra Elite.

BARON STRUCKER

First up, it’s the leader of the organization, Baron Strucker.  Not to be confused with Baron Smucker, the tyrannical leader of that company that makes jam.  Though I’m sure Strucker does love him some jam…  Anyway, Strucker is depicted in his Hydra uniform(s).  He’s built on the basic Minimate body, so he features 14 points of articulation and stands about 2 ½ inches tall.  He’s fairly light on the sculpting, featuring only a set of shoulder pads, which were reused from Rictor.  The paint detailing is quite nice, especially Strucker’s face, which is appropriately old and surly.  I also like the simulated transparency of the monocle.  Stucker is well accessorized with a coat that can be swapped out with the shoulder pads, his trusty demon’s claw, a sword, a pistol of some sort, and a clear display stand.  I quite like the coat and the demon’s claw, as they allow me to set up the Strucker that I’m more familiar with.

MADAME HYDRA

Next, it’s Strucker’s second in command, Viper…er Madame Hydra…no wait, um…hmmm.  Yeah, I can’t make up my mind.  That’s okay, though, neither could Diamond, since she’s listed as Madame Hydra on some of the boxes and as Viper on the others.  I prefer Madame Hydra because it avoids any connotations to the lackluster interpretation of the character in the recent Wolverine movie.  Madame Hydra has only really had one look, and that’s the one they went with here, so that works out.  She’s on the standard body, and has all the usual stuff associated.  She features 4 sculpted add-ons: hair, belt, and dual leg holsters.  The belt is a new piece I believe. The hair is a reuse from one of the figures in the Femme Fatales set, Dawn I think.  The holsters are from the Avengers movie line, and were most recently used on the comic version of Maria Hill, second in command of SHIELD, which is kind of a neat touch, I think.  The paint is a bit of a mixed bag on this figure.  All of the detail lines are nice and sharp, and I particularly like the face, which even features a scarred eye behind the peek-a-boo hair, but the transitions on the gloves and boots are incredibly sloppy.  Not enough to ruin the figure, but enough to be very annoying.  Madame Hydra includes two handguns, a bullwhip, and a clear display stand.

HYDRA ELITE(S?)

Lastly, this wave’s army builders, the Hydra Elite!  Or they could just be basic Hydra dudes.  That works too.  This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a Hydra army builder, but it’s been a while since the last one, and that one wasn’t as good as it could be, even then.  So, I’m glad to see Diamond revisiting these guys.  They’re built on the standard body, so they’ve got the usual articulation and height and such.  They feature 5 sculpted pieces: mask, ruffled shirt arms, a cape, and a belt/skirt combo.  I believe the belt and the Mask are new pieces, and the cape and upper arms are pieces that have been used lots of times before.  The paint on these is quite nice, and what is really cool is the completely different Hydra mask underneath of the sculpted one.  The first Hydra Agent had this piece, but it didn’t work quite as well.  The colors are also brighter and bolder than the previous Hydra Agent, which looks much better.  One thing that does bug me is that the gloves and boots aren’t all the same length from piece to piece, which can look a bit odd.  The Hydra Elite include a small handgun, a sword, a larger gun, and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

These are probably my two favorite sets in this wave.  I’ve been hoping for a redo of the Hydra agents for a while now, and these guys really do that nicely.  I’ll need to track down a few more of them because I want a serious squad of these guys.  Strucker and Madame Hydra are nice additions too, and really allow for a proper parallel set up with SHIELD and HYDRA, which is super cool!

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