Category Archives: Reviews

#0102: Private Hudson

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

PRIVATE WILLIAM HUDSON

ALIENS (NECA)

Yesterday, I spoke of my love of the movie Aliens, and my excitement for NECA’s new line of figures from the movie.  In anticipation of the second series of the line, I’ll be doing reviews of the first wave.

Today’s figure is Private William Hudson, one of the lower ranking marines sent in to deal with the alien infestation of the colony on LV-424.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hudson was released in the first series of NECA’s Aliens line.  He’s based on the character’s appearance in the movie.   Specifically, he’s based on Hudson’s look in the scene right after the first attack on the Alien hive, right as he delivers his famous “Game Over, Man” line.  Hudson stands 7 inches tall and has the same 30 points of articulation as Hicks.  I’ve reviewed most of Hudson’s sculpt before, as he shares a good deal of parts with Hicks.  He has a newly sculpted head and arms, which is really all he needs.  His arms are similar to Hicks, but with his sleeves rolled down a little further, to make it accurate to how Hudson wore his uniform in the movie.  The left arm is also bandaged, so as to properly depict Hudson following the acid burns he receives during the hive attack.  The arms are nice, but the head on this figure is truly a thing of beauty.  They’ve sculpted Hudson to evoke his expression of panic when he delivers the “Game Over, Man” line.  It’s brilliant because it not only captures the expression well, but it also gets Bill Paxton’s likeness down perfectly.  The paint on Hudson is a bit better than the paint work on Hicks.  There’s far less slop, and the paint on the head shows off the head sculpt a bit better.  From some angles, Hudson can look a little cross-eyed, but it’s not very noticeable in person.  The detailing on the armor is up to the same level as the work on Hicks, with lots of those little details that really make the figure pop.  Hudson is accessorized with a pulse rifle, a welder, a motion tracker, and a shoulder lamp.  The rifle and welder are the same ones that were included with Hicks, but the shoulder lamp and motion tracker are new.  The motion tracker is really cool, and even features detailing on the screen showing the aliens moving towards him.  The shoulder lamp is well sculpted, but very difficult to get properly seated in the slot for it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As with Hicks, I preordered Hudson and the rest of series one as soon as possible.  While I was more excited for Hicks because he’s my favorite character, Hudson is hands down the best in the first wave.  The head sculpt on this guy really pushes the figure over the edge.  I was a bit disappointed with the difficulty of attaching the lamp, but that hardly ruins the figure itself.

#0101: Corporal Hicks

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

CORPORAL DWAYNE HICKS

ALIENS (NECA)

So, I don’t know if you, the readers, are aware, but the film Aliens is, in fact, the greatest movie ever made.  Everybody agrees.  No contest.  If you thought another movie was the greatest movie ever, you were sadly mistaken.  Because it’s Aliens.

Okay, I may have exaggerated a bit up there.  If you couldn’t tell from the hyperbole, Aliens is one of my favorite movies ever.  So naturally, as a toy collector, I should be all over the toys, right?  Except, more often than not the toys a) suck and b) only ever get the aliens themselves made.  I mean, the alien is a good design and all, but come on, the reason we love the movie isn’t the aliens, it’s the awesome characters fighting the aliens.  So, what good are the aliens if they’ve got nobody to fight?

So, I was quite excited when NECA announced that not only were they making an Aliens line, but Hicks and Hudson, two of the movies main characters where in the very first wave!  And they didn’t suck!  The first wave’s been out for a good long while now, and with the impending release of the second wave, I thought I’d give it a review.  Up first, oh so cool marine Corporal Dwayne Hicks!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Corporal Hicks was released as part of the first wave of NECA’s Aliens line.  Obviously, he’s based on Hicks’s appearance in Aliens, but more specifically, he appears to be based on Hicks’s look shortly after the initial battle in the alien hive, after he loses his helmet, and before he dons the headset he wears for the rest of the movie.  Technically it’s a bit off, because he should still have his shoulder lamp at that point (yes, I’m that much of an Aliens geek), but I think it’s close enough.  Hicks stands about 7 inches tall and has 30 points of articulation.  The sculpt is quite well done.  They’ve sculpted his fatigues onto the underlying figure, and added the armor over top as a separate piece.  The detailing on the sculpt of the uniform is superbly detailed.  The armor is scratched and dented, and the fatigues are appropriately wrinkled.  All in all, it looks like the armor of an experienced marine, which is exactly how it should look.  I’ve heard complaints that the arms are too thin, and while I can see how they might seem that way on first glance, actually comparing the figure to Michael Biehn in the movie, they look about right.  Topping it all off, the head is pretty good.  It’s not as spot on as some of NECA’s work, but it’s easily the best Michael Biehn sculpt that’s been done.  The paint work ranges from decent to pretty darn good.   The head, especially the hairline has a little bit of slop, but nothing too major.  The skin tone is a bit too orange for my tastes.  The paint on the uniform is the best work on the figure.  Lots of little details, especially on the armor that could have been left off, but I’m very happy weren’t.  Hicks is decently accessorized.  He includes the standard pulse rifle, a welder, and his shotgun he kept handy for “close encounters” with its own case.  The welder plugs into his belt, and the shotgun can be slung easily.  The guns are both well sculpted, and fit very nicely into his hands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I preordered Hicks and the rest of series one as soon as I possibly could, because there was no way I was missing out on these guys.  I was super excited to get these guys, and Hicks was the figure I was most looking forward to.  While he’s not a perfect figure, he’s a darned good one, and I’m really glad to have him.

#0100: Captain America – Avengers Version

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

THE AVENGERS (HOT TOYS)

Hey look!  100 reviews!  That’s not too shabby, is it?  Like with my 50th review, I’ll be doing another “Deluxe Review.”

For those of you that don’t know, Hot Toys is a toy company based in Hong Kong who are renowned for their almost life like 1/6 scale figures.  They cater strictly to those with a large amount of money to spend on such things, as each figure costs anywhere from $200 to $300 on average.  They tend to pick up the licenses for big block buster movies, and last year they released figures from The Avengers.

Today I’ll be looking at their take on Captain America from that film.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

So, like I mentioned before, this figure is based on Cap from the Avengers movie.  He was #174 in Hot Toys’ Movie Masterpiece Series.  The figure stands about 12 inches tall, and has a whole lot of articulation.  I don’t know exactly how much, as most of it is hidden by his costume.  So I’m gonna just go with a bunch.

Cap-AvengersCloseUp

THE HEAD IN QUESTION

I’ll look at the basic head here, and the extra head in the accessories section.    The basic head depicts Cap with his helmet/mask on.  The helmet appears to be a separately molded piece, but it’s not removable.    Sculpt wise, all the details look great.   I’m not sure that they’ve quite gotten Chris Evans’s likeness down, but they’ve came pretty damn close.  The helmet is pretty much a miniaturized version of the actual one from the film, with pretty much every little groove and detail included.  The under-the-helmet-hood is also well done, simulating the texture of the fabric impressively.  Paint is one of Hot Toys’ strong suits, and this figure doesn’t disappoint.  The level of detail and the lifelike quality is nothing short of amazing.  Viewed from the right angle, this figure could pass for a real person.

THE COSTUME IN QUESTION

This is kind of a new category for me, as the costume features few sculpted pieces and very little paint.  That isn’t to say he has no sculpted pieces.  He’s got his hands, boots, gauntlets, the chevrons on his shoulders, his belt buckle, and the star on his chest.  These are all fairly well executed, although, the boot and gauntlet sculpts may be a bit on the soft side, sculpt-wise.  All of the sculpted parts are painted quite well, with no slop or bleed over.

So, I’ve looked ate the sculpted parts, now I’ll move on to the rest of the figure’s costume, which is all cloth.  Cap’s costume is tailored specifically to fit his body, and is handled with two main pieces:  Shirt and Pants.  Most of his uniform is made from the same coarse blue fabric.  I find it’s a bit on the dark side for Cap’s look from the movie, but it isn’t too bad.  The costume is assembled from multiple layers, which really adds to the realism.

THE ACCESSORIES IN QUESTION

Cap comes with quite a hefty selection of accessories.  They are:

  • Unmasked Head
  • Pulled down Hood to display with the unmasked head
  • 7 spare hands
  • 2 shields: Regular and Battle-Damaged
  • Chitauri Arm Cannon
  • Display Stand

The alternate head is pretty good.  Once again, I’m not sure they’ve completely captured Evans, but it’s hard to tell given the choice of expression.  I don’t really know why they decided to go with an angry expression for the unmasked head, since that isn’t very characteristic of Cap in the movie, but I guess it looks okay if you’re going for more of a battle-damaged, end of the movie look.  The head switches out at the base of the neck, and does so with relative, which is nice because it means you don’t have to man handle you’re $200+ action figure.

The alternate head is complimented by a hood piece to replicate what Cap’s hood looked like when he pulled it down in the movie.  It’s pretty much just a piece of blue cloth.  It’s okay, but it has difficulty hanging properly, which can look a bit awkward.  It’s attached via two snaps that hook on the inside collar of the costume.  They’re unreliable, and don’t tend to hold well.  Overall, this is kind of an extraneous piece.  I’m glad they included it for those that want it, but it’s not something I ever plan to use.

Cap includes seven hands in addition to the relaxed pair he has on in the box.  The hands include: gripping(R and L), Pointing(R), splayed(R and L), and fists(R and L).  They’re all sculpted well, and offer a nice variety of gestures.

Cap’s most important accessories are his mighty shields.  He includes both a clean and polished one and a scuffed up, battle-worn one.  The clean one is vac-metallized, which is a decision I question, as it doesn’t really accurately depict what Cap’s shield looks like in the movies.  Also, if you’re unlucky, all to paint might start flaking off like some people have experienced, so there’s that.  I much prefer the BD shield, as I feel it looks more like the one Cap carries in the movie.

Cap also includes a Chitauri arm-cannon thing.  He takes one from one of the aliens during the movie’s climactic battle, so it fits.  It’s pretty cool, and can be plugged into Cap’s hand peg if you so desire.

Lastly, Cap includes a black display stand with his name and the Avengers logo on it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When Hot Toys announced their Avengers line, this was a figure I wasn’t going to buy.  I planned on getting the rest, and need to save the money for them.  Plus, I already had Cap from his solo film.  That should be enough for me, right?

Well, as you can see, no, it wasn’t.  I broke down and bought the figure because I really wanted that really cool Avengers set up, and First Avenger Cap just wouldn’t look right.  I’m glad I bought him in the end, but man I am such a push-over on these figures.

Cap-AvengersUnmasked

#0099: He-Ro

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

HE-RO

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CLASSICS

So, I’ve looked at Mattel’s popular DC Universe Classics line a few times before on the site.  Based on the popularity of that line, Mattel decided to create a similar line based on their own in house property Masters of the Universe, handled by the Four Horsemen, the group of sculptors responsible for the amazing work present in DCUC.  They called the line Masters of the Universe Classics, and they used it to spear head the launch of their online store Matty Collector.  I’ll go into the wonderfulness of that store (read: sarcasm) in a bit.

Anyway, in addition to monthly releases on the webstore, they also have a yearly San Diego Comicon exclusive.  He-Ro is one of those.

Little backstory on He-Ro.  Towards the end of the original Masters of the Universe line, they had planned on rebranding the line “The Powers of Grayskull”, and moving the focus from He-Man to his distant ancestor He-Ro, a heroic sorcerer who had helped establish the Eternia we all knew and loved.  The line never took off, but a lone prototype of He-Ro was produced.  This figure is based on that.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

He-Ro was released as the 2009 San Diego Comicon exclusive for Masters of the Universe Classics.  He’s based on the unproduced He-Ro prototype from the 80s.  He stands about 7 inches tall and he has 24 points of articulation.  In a similar fashion to DC Universe Classics, MOTUC is built on the buck system.  However, MOTUC has two bucks: Male and Female*.  He-Ro is built on the male buck.  I hope that didn’t shock you.  In addition to the base body, He-Ro has a new head, lower arms, kilt-thingy, boots, and chest/cape combo.  These pieces are all well done, and have a lot of great little details.  The head has a bit of a young Arnold Schwarzenegger feel to it, which actually really works for the character.  The paint on the figure is well applied, no slop or bleed over.   I feel like he could possibly use a few accents to highlight some of the subtleties of the sculpt, but it’s not bad by any means.  He-Ro includes two accessories: a power sword and a staff thing.  The power sword is the same sword that’s been used many times over the course of the line, but this time molded in a clear, sparkly blue, which is cool if you’re into that sort of thing I suppose.  The staff is brand new, and can open up to show off the gem inside the top.  It was possible to get a green, red or purple gem.  I got purple.  So there…

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

If you’ve read my DCUC reviews, you know I’m not the biggest fan of Matty Collector.  I also wasn’t a fan of the price tag associated with the figures.  They were selling for $20 a piece (at a time when DCUC were still under $15), and when you added in Matty’s outrageous shipping costs, you weren’t getting one of these without dropping at least $30.  Of course, the price mattered not, because the only way you could get the figures was to get onto Matty’s site at noon (eastern time) the day they went up and pray to God that you were able to get one within the less than 10 minutes the figure was in stock.  And to make matters worse, Matty wasn’t willing to up their bandwidth to allow for the increased traffic, so you’d get stuck in perpetual loading screens.

I was a moderate fan of Masters of the Universe, but all that was enough to make me say: “I’ll spend my money elsewhere.”

But then a funny thing happened.  Mattel decided to release a select few MOTUC figures in two packs with DCUC figures.  Perhaps this was my chance, I thought!  But then they arrived and they were $40 retail.  Which definitely killed my excitement.  But then, the Toys R Us near me went out of business (well actually it moved across the street, but they still sold all of their stock because…?) and I found a Skeletor & Lex Luthor two pack for $15.  For that price, they were worth it.  And Skeletor was actually a really cool figure!  So, I decided to track down a few more.  I found He-Ro at a nearby toy store called Alltime Toys, who had him for about $25, which was pricey, but not outrageous.  And here he is.  And wow this review is a lot longer than I was expecting it to be.

*Okay, so technically there’s a few variations on the male body to allow for, like, furry characters and stuff, but it’s the same underlying musculature, and I really liked my witty banter back there.  Yeah, it was witty!

#0098: Negative Man

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

NEGATIVE MAN

DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS

Ah, DC Universe Classics.  A line that left me with so much confusion.  The line led me to steadily hate everything Mattel did.  But on the same hand, it was the DC toy line I’d wanted since I was 4 or 5.  Not only did it have great versions of the big name characters and their supporting casts, but it also gave us characters we never thought we’d see released in a retail toy line in a million years.  I’ll be looking at Negative Man, one of those characters, today.

Negative Man, or more specifically Larry Trainor because Negative Man wasn’t actually his name, was a member of the wacky 60s super hero team the Doom Patrol.  The Doom Patrol weren’t your conventional super heroes, no, they were freaks and outcasts that the public had shunned.  They were led by a wheelchair bound man and they fought the Brotherhood of Evil.  No, I didn’t make that up.  They were totally the X-Men, only at DC.  Not a rip off, mind you.  They debuted the same year, and neither one was really a best seller.  But eventually X-Men became one of the bestselling comicbooks ever, and the Doom Patrol were mostly forgotten.  Sure they’ve had a few reboots, but none of them ever really captured the fun of the original series, and none of them ever really lasted all that long.

Anyway, Larry was a test pilot who was exposed to some strange energy that turned out to be the sentient being N-Man.  N-Man was trapped inside of Larry’s body, and could only be released in 60 second intervals, or Larry would die.  When N-Man was present in Larry’s body, Larry was radioactive, so he had to be wrapped in specially treated bandages to keep the radiation contained.  I’m gonna be honest, it was a pretty sweet concept!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Larry was released as part of the 13th wave of DC Universe Classics.  Believe it or not, Larry’s actually had a few looks over the years.  Mattel has chosen to go with what is probably the character’s best known look, his red and purple number that he sported for the majority of the original series.  While I’m partial to his original green uniform, I think they picked the right costume.  He stands just shy of 6 ½ inches tall and he has 24 points of articulation.  DC Universe Classics operated on the buck system, meaning they had a set of differently sized bodies and the picked the one that best suited the character in order to save on tooling.  Larry is based on the medium build male buck, which works fine, since he’s not supposed to be a powerhouse.  I’ve heard arguments that he should have been on a skinnier body, but I think the medium build looks just fine.  In addition to the buck body, Larry has specially sculpted parts for his head, neck, hands, belt and boots.  The head, neck and hands are all bandaged, and they all look pretty cool.  They found a decent way of handling showing a face, without it looking too silly, which is a good thing.  The belt has a cool leather texture to it, which is one of those things that could have easily been left out, but I’m really glad wasn’t.  The boots are actually a reuse from the line’s Green Arrow figure, but if it’s a good part, use it.  The paint on Larry is all well applied, with no slop or bleed over.  There are several washes present to bring out the details in the sculpt.  In one area of disappointment, Larry includes no accessories apart from the requisite C-n-C piece.  It’s Trigon’s staff for those who care.  But, Larry himself gets nothing, not even a cool snap on Negative Man effect!  I guess they had to draw the line somewhere.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

In spite of DCUC’s spotty distribution, I actually found Larry in store with relative ease.  I was greatly excited by that, as he’s one of my favorite characters, and I’ve always wanted a figure of him.  This one did not disappoint.  Larry shows the DC Universe Classics line at its best.  Well distributed, well sculpted, cool obscure character.  He was just full of win!

#0097: Doctor Who – Doomsday Set

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

THE TENTH DOCTOR, CYBERMAN & DALEK SEC

DOCTOR WHO

So, apparently, there’s a part 13 to my “post-Christmas review.”  It came as a surprise to me as well.  Good surprise, though.

So yeah, this time around it’s a first for me.  I’ll be reviewing a set of Doctor Who figures, which are my very first set of Doctor Who figures ever.  So, on to the review!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The figures in this set were released as part of the Doomsday set.  It’s a three-pack based on the second series finale, “Doomsday,” and I believe it was released in 2012.

THE DOCTOR

First up, it’s the titular Doctor.  This is the Tenth Doctor, which means he’s based on David Tennant’s version of the character.  He’s shown here in his usual pinstriped suit, and he’s also wearing his 3-D glasses which are important to the plot of the episode.  The Doctor stands about 5 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  The articulation is actually pretty decent over all, though I di kind of wish he had more than simple cut joints on his shoulders.  However, the rest of the articulation works really well, which makes up for the somewhat limited shoulders.  The sculpt is pretty decent over all, but the head is where this figure really shines.  I’ve seen pictures of some of the earlier Tens and the likeness to Tennant is only passable at best, but this figure seems to have really improved in that area.  The 3D glasses are a separate piece, which is really well scaled to the figure, which is super cool.  The body sculpt is pretty good too, if not quite as good as the head sculpt.  The separate piece used for the suit jacket is a little bit too bulky, but not too terrible.  The paint is all really sharp, with no noticeable slop or bleed.  Of note is just how well handled the pinstripes on the suit, which are all very small and evenly spaced.  The Doctor includes one accessory, his trusty sonic screwdriver.  It’s a decently done piece, and matches the quality of the figure, and fits perfectly into his hand.

CYBERMAN

Next up is one of the Doctor’s recurring foes, the Cybermen.  This is just one of the basic Cyberman drones, based on the revamped design from the Russell T Davis era.  The Cyberman stands a little over 5 inches tall and features 16 points of articulation.  The articulation is actually a bit better here than on the Doctor, as he’s got a ball jointed neck and shoulders, which really adds to the posing options.  The sculpt looks fairly spot on to the design of the character on the show.  The detailing of the wires under the armor plating looks particularly interesting and gives the figure some nice dimension.  The paint is decent, though, due to the nature of the design, it is a bit simpler than the Doctor’s.  It’s all very cleanly done and nothing is out of line or sloppy.  There’s also a bit of airbrushing to help bring out the details of the sculpt.

DALEK SEC

Last up is one the Doctor’s greatest enemies, the Daleks.   In particular, it’s Dalek Sec, the leader of a group of individual-ized Daleks created to better fight the Doctor.  The group was introduced in the two-part second series finale where they proved quite pivotal to its plot, so the inclusion of Sec in the set makes a lot of sense.  Sec stands about 4 ½ inches tall and features 4 points of articulation (9 if you count the wheels on the bottom, I suppose).  Obviously, he’s nowhere near as articulated as the other two figures in the set, but that’s totally understandable, since the real Dalek props only had a few moving parts.  The sculpt is pretty much just one of the Daleks shrunk down, with pretty much all of the details handled exactly the way they should be.  The paint is really cool.  It replicates Sec’s unique color scheme, which is super awesome.  He’s all black, but the figure has paint of various different finishes, which really adds some neat detail to the figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was kinda late to the whole Doctor Who thing.  I’ve only in the last 3-4 months really started watching the show, but I’ve gotten pretty well hooked.  I’m most of the way caught up, and Tennant was definitely my favorite, so I wanted to track down one of the many figures released based on his interpretation of the character.

While I was visiting her this weekend, my super awesome girlfriend presented me with a wrapped package containing these guys and informed me it was a slightly late Christmas gift. I was super excited to get these, and they’re one of the best gifts I received in an already pretty awesome selection of gifts.  The Doctor is my favorite in the set, even with his minor flaws, just because of how much fun he is to mess around with.  However, the other two are pretty awesome too, and really neat additions to the Doctor figure.  My Doctor Who collection just went from 0 to 3 super fast, which is really nifty.

#0096: Thor & Loki

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

THOR & LOKI

MARVEL MINIMATES

Hey look guys!  It’s Minimates!

This time around it’s another peak at the earlier days of Marvel Minimates.  We’ll be jumping all the way back to wave 16 for this review.  I’ll be looking at the very first Minimates of Thor and Loki.  It’s shocking to think that these two didn’t see a release until 16 waves in, but they were hardly the household names they are now.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of the 16th wave of the Marvel Minimates line, which was an Avengers themed wave.

THOR

First up, it’s the God of Thunder, Thor!  Thor is depicted here in his classic costume.  He’s built on the basic Minimate body, so he stands 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  3 of those 14 points are rendered pretty much motionless by the hair and boot sculpts.  Thor’s sculpted pieces include: Hair/helmet, torso cover/cape, wrist bands, boots and belt.  I believe that all of these pieces were new to Thor, but a few of them would see some reuse later down the line.  The sculpts are all reasonable for the time, but they seem a little soft by today’s standards.  They also seem a bit boxy compared to more recent stuff.  Structurally, they all look good, and work really well for the character.  The paint is fairly minimal, with some minor base work on the areas such as the clack on the top of the legs and the silver on the chest and helmet.  These look fine, and don’t seem to have too much slop or any fuzzy lines.  Detail lines are present on the face, torso and boots.  They’re all sharp, and look pretty good, although the face does leave a little to be desired.  In an effort to make it fit without being obscured by the helmet, they kind of squished it, which doesn’t really work for Thor.  It was extremely common to see another face subbed in for this one back when this was the only Thor on the market.  Thor includes his trust hammer Mjolnir, which was a new sculpt.  It’s a bit on the simple side, but it worked well for the time.

LOKI

Next, Thor’s villainous brother, Loki!  Like Thor, Loki is depicted in his classic Kirby costume.  He too is built on the usual body for the line, so he has the usual height and articulation.  Fortunately, unlike Thor, none of Loki’s articulation is impacted by his sculpted pieces.  Speaking of sculpted pieces, Loki has two of them: his helmet and his cape.  The cape was previously used on wave 9’s White Queen Minimate, but the helmet was brand new to Loki.  The cape is a bit questionable, but it looks okay, and it’s easily removed if you don’t like it.  The helmet looks spot on to the one Loki wore in the early comics.  Like with Thor, paint is at a relative minimum with Loki.  He’s mostly molded in the appropriate colors, but he’s got some yellow paint for his gloves, boots and such.  Loki has detail lines denoting his face and the texturing on his torso.  The face looks appropriately sinister, though it does kind have the same squashed look as Thor.  The texturing is nice, and it looks accurate to the look they were going for.  Loki includes a chalice, painted in the same yellow as is present on the figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

These two were part of wave 16 of the Marvel Minimates line, which was not only a turning point for the line itself, but also for my involvement in the line.  Wave 16 represents the first time I eagerly awaited the release of a set of minimates, and the first time I bought an entire set of them, instead of just a random set here or there.  While they seem a bit dated now, Thor and Loki were a big deal at the time, and they helped put the Avengers a lot closer to a formidable presence in the line, an idea that seems absurd nowadays.  This was the wave that showed that this line could go the distance.  And boy, did it…

#0095: Green Lantern & Sinestro

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

GREEN LANTERN & SINESTRO

SUPER FRIENDS (DC DIRECT)

Today, I’ll be looking at another piece of my extensive Green Lantern collection, though unlike the last time, this is a set I acquired because I actually wanted it, not just because it said “Green Lantern” on the box.  This time around, it’s a 2-pack from DC Direct’s Super Friends line released a while back.  In particular, it’s Green Lantern and his nemesis Sinestro based on their appearance from the 70s TV show Challenge of the Superfriends.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This pair was released as part of the 3rd wave of 2-packs from DC Direct’s Super Friends line.

GREEN LANTERN

Up first, it’s the hero of the set, Green Lantern.  Unsurprisingly, he’s based on the character’s appearance from the show.  He stands a bit over 6 inches tall and has 9 points of articulation.  The articulation can be a bit tricky, as the ball joints on the arm have a tendency to pop out, leaving poor Hal armless.  The sculpt on the figure is very smooth, and all the lines are very clean, which is appropriate for the design they were trying to capture.  In particular, the head sculpt really got the character design from the show down.  The paint is also clean and basic, but that’s no surprise, given the look they wanted.  The pupils seen through the mask can be a bit unnerving, but that’s in line with his design.  The figure included a lifesize version of his ring from the show, a display stand with the Super Friends logo, and a miniature version of the hall of justice.

SINESTRO

Next, Green Lantern’s arch-nemesis, Sinestro!  Sinestro is, of course, based on his appearance in the show.  He stands just shy of 7 inches tall and has the same 9 points of articulation as his pack mate.  Unlike GL, Sinestro doesn’t seem to be plagued by the arm issue, which makes him a bit easier to pose and such.  Sinestro’s sculpt is a bit more detailed than GL’s, since his character design was a bit more intricate.  A lot of the musculature of the sculpt is very similar, just stretched out to convey Sinestro’s tall, lean build.  Like with GL, the head sculpt is really the shinig point of this figure, giving Sinestro the perfect sinister grin.  Sinestro also includes a lifesize model of his ring from the show and a display stand with the show’s logo.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Green Lantern and Sinestro were a birthday gift from some family friends who were aware of my intense Green Lantern fandom.  I greatly appreciated it, and it was actually my only figure of Sinestro for a good long while.  I still really like this set, as it’s a great representation of a popular take on the characters.  I can’t look at them without the Challenge of the Super Friends theme starting up in my head.

#0094: Spider-Man

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

SPIDER-MAN

MARVEL 10-INCH (TOYBIZ)

In the 90s, ToyBiz’s 5 inch Marvel line was pretty unbeatable when it came to superhero toys.  They had wide variety and best assortment of articulation you could find at the time.  Having met a great success with the 5 inch line, ToyBiz decided to release a larger scale line through a partnership with toy store KB Toys.  The 10 inch line was made from sized-up molds from the popular 5 inch line, and offered a variety of characters at a low price.  They were also a bit more durable than the smaller figures, which made them great for play.  Today, I’ll be looking at the basic Spider-Man from the line.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Man was part of KB’s exclusive line of 10-inch figures, though the line never really had “waves” or “series.”  Instead, the figures were just kind of in constant supply.  Anyway, this was the basic Spider-Man, who was offered for the entirety of the line.  The figure stands 10 inches tall and has 9 points of articulation.  The sculpt quite simplistic, but fairly well handled, especially given it would have been released in the 90s.  The web lines are painted instead of sculpted, but that was the standard at the time, and it does make the figure look like he’s from the 90s Spider-Man Animated Series, which was undoubtedly an influence.  For the most part, the figure is molded in the appropriate colors, but there are a few painted spots.  The color matching is good, and everything looks clean, with no smudges or slop.  I believe that this figure included a web-line with a suction cup, but I’ve long since lost it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This guy was purchased on one of the many trips taken to the nearby, mall-based KB Toys with my Grandmother.  She would occasionally buy me one or two of these figures and I would joyfully take them home to play.

#0093: Darcy, Selvig & Dark Elves

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

DARCY LEWIS, ERIC SELVIG  & DARK ELVES

MARVEL MINIMATES

Today, I’ll be doing the second half of my Thor: The Dark World Minimates review.  I’ll be looking at the two short packed sets, which feature Darcy Lewis and Eric Selvig, each packed with a Dark Elf.

I mentioned yesterday that I wasn’t as happy as I’d hoped with Thor: The Dark World, and sadly, the Dark Elves had a lot to do with that.  I get that the director was obviously a fan of Star Wars.  Who isn’t?  But, it’d be nice if the Dark Elves weren’t such thinly veiled knock offs of the Stormtroopers.  But perhaps I’m too picky.

Anyway, others seemed to like the Dark Elves, and they don’t have bad designs, so they seem rather toy worthy.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These four were released as part of the 53rd wave of Marvel Minimates.  The wave was released to coincide with The Dark World.

DARCY

First up, Kat Dennings’s love-or-hate character Darcy.  Darcy was in both Thor films, but was absent from the first movie’s merchandise.  It’s nice to see her included this time around.  Darcy is based on her appearance in the film, although, she seems to be missing the coat and hat she wore for most of the movie.  I assume that this was done to save on tooling.  Darcy features two sculpted pieces:  hair and skirt.  Both of these pieces are reused from previous Minimates, and the hair in particular seems to be popular on Marvel movie females.  These pieces were well sculpted initially and still look good now, so the reuse is fine.  Darcy’s paint is alright, I guess.  The detail lines are all applied nicely, and the likeness of the face is fantastic, but the basic paintwork leaves a lot to be desired, with lots of slop and a few mismatched colors.  Darcy includes a mobile phone, a laptop and a clear display stand.

SELVIG

Next up, friendly scientist gone madman, Eric Selvig!  This is Selvig’s second appearance as a Minimate, but the first Selvig suffered from some pretty bad quality control, and a few unfortunate plastic choices, so it’s nice to see him get another shot.  Selvig has a few looks in the movie, but since several of them wouldn’t be fit for a toyline, they’ve opted for his business casual look from the film’s climax.  Selvig has 3 sculpted pieces: hair, and rolled up sleeve cuffs.  These pieces have all been used before, but they all look appropriate to the character, so no complaints.  The paintwork is better here than on Darcy.  The likeness is really good, and the detail work on his plaid shirt is nothing short of phenomenal.  Selvig includes the same mobile phone as Darcy, a spare set of legs, and a clear display stand.  The spare legs are a fun addition, and let you display Selvig sans pants, illustrating his mental instability throughout the film.  They’re not quite as well painted as the rest of him, but they look okay, and are a really cool add-in.

DARK ELF

Lastly, my least favorite part of these sets (yeah, I keep going on about it.  Sorry, I just really was disappointed by them!), the Dark Elves.  They are, of course, based on the look of the big bad’s army in the film.  In all fairness, they aren’t a terrible design.  They feature 6 sculpted pieces:  helmet, torso armor, upper arms, blaster hand, and shield hand.  These pieces are all new to the Dark Elf.  They’re all well done, though I feel they don’t quite live up to, say, the armor on Heimdall.  Some of the details are a bit soft.  The paint, on the other hand, is some of the best in the wave.  All the detail lines are quite sharp, and the basic paint work is clean and without any noticeable slop.  The Dark Elves include unarmed hands and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked these two sets up from my local comicbook store.  While I certainly like Darcy and Selvig, and I understand the necessity of the Dark Elves, even if I personally didn’t care for them, I can’t help but feel these slots could have been put to better use.  Sure, these are all great Minimates, and I’m glad to have them, but would I want them in place of, say, Fandrall and Hogun, or even Frigga?  Not really.  Of course, it’s hardly Diamond’s fault.  Those three were set to be made, in the TRU wave for the movie.  But Toys R Us decided they didn’t want said wave, mucking up Diamond’s plans.  So, in actuality, it’s all the fault of Toys R Us.  Which seems to be the usual state of affairs…