Category Archives: Reviews

#0072: Ice

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

ICE

DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS (MATTEL)

So, here’s an interesting review.  Rather than looking at something that’s been out for a while, I’m taking a look at something that technically isn’t out yet.  I’m doing some crazy time travel voodoo!

So, I spoke briefly in my review of Ultra Humanite about the demise of the DC Universe Classics line.  This year saw the release of third-tier Justice Leaguer Fire, leading many fans to wonder when we’d see her longtime companion Ice.  Well, Mattel, in their infinite wisdom was attempting to get another year out of the line by making anyone who wanted to complete the duo buy into a whole year’s worth of monthly figures on blind faith.  As much as some people wanted the figure, Ice isn’t exactly going to make a huge number of sales for the line as a whole.  So it failed.

Or did it?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ice was released as…hmm…Ice was part of….um.   Ice is a figure that somehow fits into the DC Universe Classics line.  Exactly how is still a bit iffy.  Anyway, Ice is depicted in her Adam Hughes designed costume from when she was part of the Justice League International.  This is my favorite look of Ice’s, so I’m glad it was the one they chose for the figure.  Ice stands a little over 6 inches tall and has 19 points of articulation.  She’s built on the second female base body that Mattel introduced into the line, with new sculpts for the head, upper torso, and lower legs.  The head is okay.  Not the greatest, but far from the worst sculpt the line has produced.  The upper torso and lower legs depict the more 3d elements of Ice’s costume.  The fur of the boots looks pretty good, and the t-shirt thingy on the torso looks accurate and has some nice sculpted folds and such.  The paint is alright.  There’s some fuzziness on some of the lines of the costume, but nothing too terrible.  Ice’s only accessory is a clear ice blast piece, but my crazy time-travel-copy doesn’t have that piece. Oh well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Funny thing about the toy industry:  In order to have the first few figures for next year ready to go if the line did go through, the first three figures had to already be in production.  So Ice actually exists.  Rumor has it that she’ll see a release on Matty’s site sometime next year, but I imagine she’ll see quite a mark-up, and trying to order something from that site has to be one of the levels of Hell.  So, I got one…early.

Another funny thing about the toy industry: sometimes figures “fall off” the production line.  And occasionally, they wind up on certain auction sites.  And if there were, say, a significant delay between production and release, these “rejects” might show up several months before the real deal.  And perhaps, a few fans, eager to get the figures a bit early and with a little less hassle might just happen to acquire said figures.  Not that I’d know anything about that, of course.  It’s purely speculative.  I got my figure through crazy time travel voodoo!

#0071: Aquaman & Ocean Master

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

AQUAMAN & OCEAN MASTER

DC MINIMATES

Just when you thought there couldn’t be more, it’s another Minimates review.  Okay, I know.  It’s hardly a surprise at this point.  I’m a creature of habit.

Anyway, this’ll be my second look at the tragically too short DC Minimates line.  Unlike other Minimates, the DC ones were handled by DC Direct.  They were actually pretty innovative, and were released during a time when the Marvel line had somewhat stagnated.  When DC Direct upped the game, Marvel caught up and quickly surpassed them.  DC, for a variety of reasons decided to get out of the Minimate game just before Minimates hit it big.  Oh well.  So, today I’ll be looking at one of DC’s most infamous heroes: Aquaman and his *second* greatest foe Ocean Master.  So, there…

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of the 3rd series of DC Minimates.

AQUAMAN

First up, it’s the ever loveable Aquaman.  Yes, loveable.  Deal with it.  Aquaman is presented here in his classic orange and green look.  If you want to get technical, he’s got his look from the early issues of the Peter David series, since he doesn’t have the black shorts over his pants.  But most people probably wouldn’t notice the difference.  He’s on the usual Minimate body, which means he’s got 14 points of articulation and stands about 2 ½ inches tall.  He has specially sculpted hair, gloves and feet.  The hair has a “heroic hair” thing going for it.  The gloves were used a few times over the course of the line, and are just basic flared gloves.  The feet are specially sculpted to feature fins at the back.  The rest of Aquaman’s details are handled via paint.  He’s mostly molded in the appropriate colors, so the paint is only really used to provide detail lines.  Everything is pretty sharp.  The face has a nice stern regality, and the shirt has the appropriate scaled texture, which is nice and subtle.  Aquaman includes a trident, because that’s the accessory you give Aquaman.  I’m pretty sure that’s like in the DC license or something, because every damned Aquaman has one, and the character’s used one, like once.  But it’s there, so…

OCEAN MASTER

Next, it’s umm, well its Ocean Master.  “Who is Ocean Master?”  Yeah, legit question.  He’s Aquaman’s half-brother Orm, who wanted to be Master of the Ocean or something, so he fought Aquaman a lot.   He’s shown here with what I believe is his look from the 90s.  It’s not far off from his earlier look, but he’s gray instead of a mash of purples.  He’s on the usual body, and has the usual stuff.  He’s got a helmet, cape, belt and gauntlets.  All new pieces, and I don’t believe any of them were ever reused, which is bold, considering it’s Ocean Master.  The rest of the detail is handled with paint.  It’s all very sharply done, although the face is a bit odd.  Ocean Master includes his own trident, but it does make a little bit more sense here.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like with the rest of the DC Minimates line, I eagerly picked this set up the day it was released.  It’s a pretty good example of the line’s strengths, in how it handled the heavy hitters, and it’s well done sculpted parts, but it also shows the lines faults, like releasing Ocean Master over a better known Aquaman villain such as Black Manta, or even Aquaman’s sidekick Aqualad.  I still really like this set and still wish there were more DC Minimates!

#0070: Gingerbread Man

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

GINGERBREAD MAN

LEGO MINIFIGURES

In the spirit of being festive for Christmas, I’ll be looking at something vaguely Christmas related.  It’s another figure from LEGO’s Minifigures line.  This time depicting everyone’s favorite Christmas themed cookie (okay, maybe not everyone’s­) :  The Gingerbread Man

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Gingerbread Man is the 2nd figure in the 11th series of the LEGO Minifigures line.  He uses the traditional LEGO body, but he has a specially sculpted head in place of the usual piece.  It’s a really cool piece, and looks perfect for its intended use.  The Gingerbread man is molded in a creamy brown color, and has detailing to represent his icing details.  In addition to the icing, he’s also got a slightly darker brown detailing to show the texture of the gingerbread he’s made from.  It’s a subtle effect, and could have easily been left out, but the extra mile really adds to the figure.  The Gingerbread Man includes a mug and a LEGO stand.  The mug has painted letters that read “DUNK ME!” which is another really cool touch.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked the Gingerbread Man up along with several others from the same series from a bookstore at the beach while vacationing.  I think he’s really cool, and is definitely a shining example what LEGO can do with the line.

#0069: Storm

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

STORM

MARVEL SELECT

Yesterday, I looked at Wolverine from the Marvel Select line.  Today, I’ll be looking at one of his teammates, Storm.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Storm was released in the last year of the line.  As with everyone else in the line, she’s not part of a specific series. Instead, she was released solo.  Storm is presented here in her original costume.   It’s nice to see this costume, as it’s not used as often as it should be in my opinion.  Storm stands about 7 inches tall, and has 17 points of articulation.  She’s definitely got one of the better female sculpts I’ve looked at on the site.  It’s pretty well proportioned, and does a fair job of living up to her comic book counterpart’s looks.  She’s not as Cockrum influenced as Wolverine, instead going a bit more generic, but she still looks appropriate for the character, so I can’t complain.  The paint is all nice and cleanly applied, with no slop or fuzziness.  I really like the choice of shiny finish for the black parts, as it makes them stand out well.  They’ve opted to use gold for the traditionally yellow parts, which adds an air of regality to her, which works nicely.  Storm includes a small display stand and a corner of the Danger Room.  It’s got several parts, and has a great geometric look to it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Storm was picked up at the same time as the Select Wolverine, also at my local comic book store’s end of the year sale.  I’d actually been wanting to pick this figure up for a while, and I was glad to find it at a slightly lower price.  I don’t have many Storm figures in my collection, so I was very glad to add this one.  She’s not just a good Storm figure, but a good action figure in general.

#0068: Wolverine

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

WOLVERINE

MARVEL SELECT

It’s honestly surprising how few Wolverine figures I’ve reviewed so far, given how many I own.  Anyway, this is another Marvel Select review, based on the aforementioned Wolverine.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wolverine was released a few years ago as part of the Marvel Select line.  Like all the others in the line, he’s not part of a “series”, but rather, he was released on his own.  Wolverine is based on his look from his early appearances in X-Men in the late 70s.  Specifically, he looks to be based on Dave Cockrum’s interpretation of the character.  He stands about 6 ½ inches tall, giving him the proper stature of an early Wolverine, and he has 17 points of articulation.  The sculpt is handled well.  He’s a tad bit skinny, but not too bad.  The head in particular is great, because it’s spot on to Cockrum’s take on the character.  I also like that the claws are handled better than on most Wolverine figures, and have a nice unique look to them.  The paint is done well, particularly the yellow parts, because yellow can look hideous in some cases, but they’ve added a nice wash to it to bring out the sculpt.  Wolverine is topped off with a display stand, depicting a chunk of scenery from what appears to be Weapon X, which is appropriate to the character.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this guy from my comic book store’s annual end of the year sale.  I’m not the biggest fan of Wolverine, but I love the early Claremont/Cockrum run on X-Men, so I was super excited to get a Wolverine based on that time period.  He’s definitely one of the best Wolverine’s out there, and my favorite in my collection.

#0067: Breaker

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

BREAKER

GI JOE: RISE OF COBRA

Today’s figure comes from the original action figure line:  GI Joe.  It’s far from one of the original figures, but he’s part of the line, so…umm…there’s that.  Anyway, it’s Breaker (who, incidentally was one of the original 13 figures from the 3 ¾ incarnation of the line) from the 2009 GI Joe movie, Rise of Cobra.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Breaker was released in the first series of Hasbro’s tie-in line for Rise of Cobra.  He’s based on Breaker’s more casual look from the film, instead of his “impact armor” look.  The figure stands roughly 3 ¾ inches tall and has 16 points of articulation.  The sculpt is pretty good overall, with nice texturing and folds and such.  The head sculpt is a decent approximation of the actor who plays Breaker in the film.  However good the sculpt is, it doesn’t matter, because the paint is where this figure falls apart.  The paint is thickly applied, and kind of haphazardly applied.  The paint on the body is a bit better, but still leaves a lot to be desired.  Breaker is accessorized with a removable vest, a machine gun, a handgun, a laptop, a big freaking missile launcher, and a stand with his name on it.  The missile launcher isn’t pictured, because I got rid of it, along with all the other over-sized missile launchers Hasbro seems intent on giving us.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Breaker along with several other figures from the line at the time of the movie’s release.  I liked the character, so I bought the figure.  Mistakes may have been made.

#0066: War Machine

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

WAR MACHINE

MARVEL SELECT

Today, I’ll be taking a look at another figure from the Marvel Select line.  This time around, it’s from the small assortment of figures released in the line to coincide with the release of Iron Man 3 this past summer.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

War Machine was released as part of the Iron Man 3 subset of the Marvel Select line.  Like the rest of the Marvel Select line, they don’t have specific “series”.  They tend to just be released on their own, or in pairs.  This figure is of course based on the War Machine 2.0 look from the *Tie-In comics to the* Summer Blockbuster Iron Man 3.  Yeah, despite it’s presence throughout the tie-in toys, the actual War Machine paint scheme is only in the lead-in comic, and makes no actual appearance in the film.  And yet this is the main release figure, and the Iron Patriot is the store exclusive.  Bleh. The figure stands roughly 7 inches tall, and has 26 points of articulation.  The sculpt is accurate to the suit design from the movie, although it’s a bit thin in the waist area.  All the details are nicely done, but some of the armor details are slightly soft.  The paint is adequate.  It’s not that it’s bad, it’s just a bit bland.  It’s lots and lots of greys and silvers.  War Machine comes with a stand that resembles a stall from the hall of armor, and an alternate head sans faceplate, so you can see Rhodey’s face.  The stand is nice, but it takes up a lot of space.  The extra head is cool, and the Don Cheadle likeness is pretty good, although I feel like his skin tone is a tad light for Cheadle, and the eyes are a bit on the wonky side.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Yeah, so right off the bat, this is a figure that ties into a movie where the look presented doesn’t appear in the film.  I like the sculpt, but I think with the more exciting Iron Patriot paint scheme, this figure would pop a lot more.  They actually did make an Iron Patriot from this sculpt, but it was a Disney Store exclusive, and is difficult to find.  And this figure was $12.  At $12, this figure is pretty good.

#0065: Venom Through the Ages Minimates

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

VENOM, VENOM, VENOM & VENOM!

MARVEL MINIMATES

So, yeah, it’s…uhh…Venom.  And Venom.  And Venom and Venom.  That’s 4 Venoms.  What is it?  1995?  Anyway, it’s more Marvel Minimates.  This time around, it’s a boxed set commemorating all the different incarnations of Venom from over the years.  Because Venom’s such a diverse character.  Regardless, that’s the set I’m looking at today.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These guys were released last year, as the “Venom Through the Ages” boxed set.

VENOM UNLEASHED

First up, it’s the real star of the show.  This is the version of Venom that most people think of when they think of the character.  It’s the big, bulky, long-tongued, slobbering version of the character.  If you read my review of the recent TRU Venom, you’ve pretty much seen this figure before.  This one’s got most of the same pieces, only this time, cast in black instead of the dark blue from that figure.  To counteract this, they’ve done the muscle detailing in a light blue instead of black.  It’s all nice and cleanly done.  This one doesn’t have a Spider-Man under all the pieces, instead showing a crazed Eddie Brock.  He also includes a spare mask that is partly pulled back to reveal Eddies face, and an alternate hairpiece to show Eddie totally revealed.

VENOM – EDDIE BROCK

Next, it’s another version of Eddie Brock.  This time around, it’s based on his more svelte look from his earlier appearances.  He’s built on the basic Minimate body, with all the usual articulation.  In place of regular hands, he’s got a pair of clawed hands, which have been used for Venom a few times before.  He’s also got a torso cover that’s been used a few times in the past for some of the more bulky characters.  It’s not my favorite piece, due to its blockage of the figures shoulders and neck articulation, and its overall odd shape, but it works okay, I guess.  Instead of a sculpted head, Venom’s face is all paint on this one.  It looks pretty accurate to the material, and fits the minimate aesthetic a bit better.  The rest of his detailing is similar, though not identical, to that on the Venom Unleashed figure.  Venom also includes an alternate Eddie brock head, this time with a more calm expression than the last one.

VENOM – ANN WEYING

Next, it’s Ann Weying, one of the attempts to make a “She-Venom” back in the 90s, when everything Venom sold millions.  She was Eddie Brock’s ex-wife, or something, and had the symbiote for a little while, during one of Eddie’s many breaks from the role.  Quality story telling there.  She’s on the typical Minimate body, though with the same clawed hands that the Eddie Venom used.  Like Eddie, she has a painted face instead of a sculpted one.  The only other sculpted piece she has is a tendril piece that goes over her neck.  She’s detailed similarly to the Eddie Venom, though a bit more simplistic, and of course, more feminine.  She includes an unmasked head with hair.

VENOM – FLASH THOMPSON

Lastly, it’s Flash Thompson’s Venom.  This one’s kind of the outlier of the set, being form the last few years.  He’s also the only one that’s not a variation on the same basic look.  And he’s heroic to boot.  Flash’s design is of course based on his look from his series that’s been running the last few years.  For him, the symbiote is used more as a tool, and not a controlling force.  It’s an interesting take, and that’s actually not sarcasm.  Anyway, he’s on the usual body, but he’s got a whole bunch of add-ons.  He’s got a mask, vest, gloves, a belt, a holster, and boots.  With the exception of the mask, which has been used several times before, all the pieces are new to this figure.  They all look accurate to the source material, which is good.  Flash has minimal detailing, but it’s all well done.  The eyes and logo stand out nicely, and there’s a nice pattern representing the texturing on his arms.  Flash also includes an assault rifle, a handgun, and a hair piece to display him unmasked.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m honestly not the world’s biggest Venom fan, but my usual online store had this set marked down during their Black Friday Sale, so I picked it up.  Eddie and Ann aren’t gonna win any awards, but Unleashed and Flash are both really cool, so I’m glad to have picked it up.

#0064: Lara Croft

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

LARA CROFT – BATTLE DAMAGED

TOMB RAIDER MINIMATES

Another Minimate review!  It’s another previously un-reviewed line, this time based on the popular video game franchise Tomb Raider.  Diamond Select Toys picked up the license for the most recent game in the series, and have released a line of Minimates to coincide.  I’ll be looking at the Battle-Damaged variant of the main character, Lara Croft.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

This version of Lara was released as part of the first series of Tomb Raider Minimates.  She was packed with the Armored Tomb Raider Scavenger, but I picked Lara up loose, all by herself, so I won’t be looking at that one.  Lara is based on her look from later in the game after she’s been raiding tombs, or whatever.  She’s got sculpted hair, belt and shoulder strap.  These pieces are all new to the figure, though, the hair’s been seen before on this site, in my review of Rescue & Robot Hulk.  I liked the piece there, and I like it here.  It’s a nice piece and I would be glad to see it used more often.  The belt’s got a holster for her pistol, and the shoulder strap’s got a clip for her machine gun.  The paint on this figure is nothing short of amazing.  She’s got scuffs and stains everywhere, and is all bandaged up.  There’s even mud in her hair.  Lara comes with a handgun, a climbing axe, a machine gun and a shotgun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve never actually played any of the Tomb Raider games, nor do I know all that much about the series (in case you couldn’t tell from my description of Lara’s activities as “raiding tombs or whatever”).  But, I was ordering a bunch of stuff from Luke’s Toy Store during their Black Friday sale, and I saw her loose for a good price, and thought it was a cool enough figure.

#0063: Captain Archer & Dolim

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

CAPTAIN ARCHER & DOLIM

STAR TREK LEGACY MINIMATES

So, yeah, it’s more Minimates today.  This time, they’re from a line I haven’t yet looked at, Star Trek.  Minimates actually owe a lot to Star Trek, as Trek was one of the earliest licenses, back when the figures were still 3 inch scale.  Sadly, Trek hasn’t seen a load of success in the Minimates world.  The 3 inch line only lasted a single series, and the first 2 inch line only went 5 series, barely making it past the classic Trek crew.  In the last year, Diamond attempted to relaunch the line again as Star Trek Legacy.  This time around, they focused on several of the Trek show simultaneously, releasing the captain from each series with one other character.  There were Toys R Us and Specialty assortments, with 4 two-packs each.  Today, I’ll be looking at Archer and Dolim from Star Trek: Enterprise.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of the first specialty series of the Star Trek Legacy Minimates line.

CAPTAIN ARCHER

First up, it’s the captain, and de facto lead of the show, Captain Nathanial Archer.  He’s shown here in his basic look from the show, his blue jumpsuit.  He’s built on the basic Minimate body, so he stands about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  He has sculpted hair and a belt.  These pieces both look to be new.  The belt is rather basic, and could conceivably work for many different purposes.  The hair piece looks fairly accurate to Archer’s hair from the show, but I’m not sure it’s spot on.  The paint detailing is all well done.  The face looks to be set a slight bit too high in the head, but it looks to be a pretty good interpretation of Scott Bakula.  If I had one complaint, it would be that he looks a bit stern for Archer, who tended to be more jovial.  Archer includes a communicator, a tri-corder, a phase pistol, and a clear display stand.

DOLIM

Next, it’s Dolim.  He’s one of the great…umm…wait…no, he’s, hmmm.  Yeah, I don’t actually know who Dolim is.  According to the box, he’s “A reptilian commander in the Xindi alliance…”  So, there’s that I guess.  I honestly wasn’t watching Enterprise when this guy showed up, so I know nothing about him.  Nor do I have any kind of attachment to him, but he was in the box with Archer, so here he is.  He’s on the usual Minimate body, so he’s got the 14 points of articulation and stands about 2 ½ inches tall.  In place of the basic head and hands, Dolim has uniquely sculpted pieces.  He also has a sculpted robe thingy, which covers most of the body.  The paint is up to the usual standards of a Minimate, though there’s a bit of slop on the robe.  Dolim’s only accessory is a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, another controversial opinion of mine:  I actually don’t mind Star Trek: Enterprise.  It wasn’t perfect, but it was my favorite Trek after the original.  I’ve never been able to get into DS9 or Voyager, and Next Gen was just too stretched out for me, and I tend to like Scott Bakula’s work.  Anyway, I was rather excited to see Captain Archer get a release in the line, even if I did have to buy a villain I didn’t really want.   I kind of wish Archer had come with his pet beagle, but I guess this is Archer after Scotty lost it in a transporter accident.  That would explain the stern expression…