Category Archives: Reviews

#3622: Justice

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

JUSTICE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0101: Vance Astrovik was originally introduced purely as the “present day” counterpart of Guardians of the Galaxy member Vance Astro.  After a split in the timeline, he became the second Marvel Boy, and eventually Justice.

As a kid, my earliest interactions with Marvel comics were largely through my dad’s ’70s and ’80s books.  My first real interaction with “current” books, at least as far as the mainstream line, was Busiek and Perez’s run on Avengers.  After the big launch that brought every living member of the team up to that point back for a reality-warping adventure fighting Morgan le Fay, they settled into a line-up of mainstays, joined by former New Warriors Firestar and Justice.  There was a poster of this new line-up, drawn by Perez, included in the issue that introduced it, which my dad pulled out of his copy and gave to me.  It hung over my bed for a good many years and only further cemented the run as definitive for me.  I’ve longed to build that version of the team in toy form since that poster came out, and it’s been a slow-going experience to say the least.  A particular hang-up has been Justice, who has, up to this point, not gotten any figure coverage that wasn’t “Vance Astro.”  Hey, look, a Justice figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Justice (or “New Warriors Justice” as he’s listed on the box) is figure 3 in the Void Series of Marvel Legends, which is the first Avengers-based line-up of 2024.  Vance has had a number of different looks over the years.  This one specifically goes for his second look from New Warriors Vol. 5, which was right around the Marvel Now! era.  It takes elements from his prior designs and is notably pretty similar to his Perez era costume, while still being a little different.  I’m still partial to the Perez look, of course, but this one’s not bad, and it’s technically “current.”  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  He’s based on the 2099 base body, which is a respectable match for Vance’s usual build.  It’s interesting that it’s not using the modified versions of the arms and legs, without the visible pins, but there seems to be some sort of strategy to which version gets used for which figure.  Justice gets a new head, upper torso, and cape, all courtesy of sculptor Dan Mitchell.  The head is decidedly dialed into the 2014 Vance look, which is, as noted, no my go-to, but I can’t help but like this sculpt nonetheless.  I feel it does a really nice job of matching the energy of Speedball sculpt in particular, and I really liked that one too.  The new upper torso is designed to work in tandem with the cape sculpt, to give him one seamless design.  It’s very clean and concise, and works well to capture the design.  Justice’s color work goes for a slightly more reserved take on his look, which works well for the specific design they’re aiming for.  Paint application is all pretty sharp and clean, which is definitely key for a design as simplistic as this one.  Justice is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and relaxed, as well as the tendrils to the Void Build-A-Figure.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

With each New Warrior we’ve gotten in Legends, I’ve hoped we might be that much closer to getting Justice.  It’s been a wait, for sure, but I kept hoping.  I knew he’d be the last proper member I added to my Avengers line-up, and sure enough he was.  He’s not in the right costume, but, honestly, I don’t care.  I got a Justice figure, and he’s really, really nice.  I’ll take what I can get, especially when what I get is as solid as this figure.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3621: Jean Grey

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

JEAN GREY — SPACE RIDERS

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

Fun FiQ Fact #0100: “The Dark Phoenix Saga” is the proper storyline to be published in the trade paperback format by Marvel.

You guys didn’t forget about the Space-themed X-Men figures, did you?  Because I certainly haven’t.  They’ve been sitting on the floor of my room for months, and, you know, I kinda wanna not have them there.  Reviewing them seems like the easiest way to go about that, honestly.  I’ve done Wolverine and Cyclops, so might as well do the third point on the triangle and get Jean Grey reviewed!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Jean Grey is the fourth member of the deluxe-sized “Space Riders” assortment of Toy Biz’s X-Men line, which was released in 1997.  The figure stands a little under 5 inches tall and she has 8 points of articulation (which includes a spinning ponytail).  Jean is lacking the single wrist swivel that a bunch of the others in the set got, which is a bummer.  In general, she’s a bit stiffer, I feel.  Her sculpt is all-new, and it’s…fine.  Her design is dialed very closely into the Jim Lee look, making this the closest the main X-Men line got to actually doing that look during the ’90s.  Crazy, huh?  It’s pretty much just that look, with some extra armoring.  The sculpt is rather on the soft side, especially on the head.  It’s in rather stark contrast to the heads on Cyclops and Wolverine, which are easily the best parts of their respective sculpts.  For Jean, that would be…I don’t know, maybe her boots?  Those seem pretty nice.  Jean’s paint work is fine.  It checks the boxes, but like the rest of the set, it’s thick and a little sloppy.  Jean is packed with her own Space Racer, which has folding wings, and a pair of missiles.  She’s also got a mask piece, though hers is missing any actual enclosing around the mouth, which feels like it defeats the purpose.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I actually got this one before the others, when a sealed one came through All Time a few years ago.  I even had to fight Max for it.  Okay, not really.  He wanted it, but I said I didn’t have one, and he told me I got first dibs on Toy Biz Marvel, which was very considerate.  No actual fighting.  Probably for the best, really, since she’s…well, she’s not amazing.  I mean, I guess she’s not terrible, but she certainly feels like the most phoned-in of the figures thus far.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3620: Darth Vader – Duel’s End

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

DARTH VADER — DUEL’S END

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0099: This is the 17th Darth Vader I’ve reviewed on the site.

In addition to the return of Ewan McGregor in the title role, Kenobi also brought back Hayden Christensen, now not just playing Anakin, but in fact playing a full-fledged Darth Vader. I never had the full-fledged hate-on for Hayden’s work in the prequels the way others did (though I’ll admit to getting in on some of the joking about it when the prequels hate was at its height), and it was super cool to see him get to do more work with the character. His Kenobi portrayal brought out a rawness to Vader that we hadn’t really seen in live action, and that was really impressive. I skipped the standard Kenobi Vader from Black Series, since he was very similar to other releases, but I couldn’t turn down a shot at a more obviously show-specific version!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Darth Vader (Duel’s End) is figure 15 in the Kenobi-sub-set of Star Wars: The Black Series. Like the rest of the back portion of that set, he was an exclusive, specifically to Target, hitting at the end of last year.  As the figure’s name indicates, this guy is based on his appearance at the end of his climactic duel with Obi-Wan, after Ben’s given him quite a beating.  The figure stands a little over 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 26 points of articulation.  This figure is obviously using a good deal of parts from the standard Kenobi Vader, which itself was mostly re-use from the #43 Vader.  Once you’ve got a good base Vader sculpt, you just really need to move some details around, so I can get it.  He does get an all-new head and torso, though.  The torso gets some minor change-ups, with the slashes across his control box, as well as the one on his back (which is very easy to miss).  The head’s the real star piece, though, as the helmet is split open, revealing traces of the scarred Anakin beneath.  There’s a whole head sculpt under there, which is fun, even if you can’t see the whole thing.  The split helmet is great, because it’s got the proper updated look from the show on the undamaged parts, while also replicating the damage very nicely.  As with prior Vaders, he’s using soft goods for his cape and underlying robe.  The tailoring is a little better here than the prior ones I’ve messed with, and they even added extra damage to everything to match up with his sculpted damage.  The only issue I’ve got with it is that, at least on mine, the robe isn’t all the way under the shoulder armor the way it should be.  Vader’s paint work is standard Vader for the most part, but he does get some more exciting parts with the head under the helmet.  Vader is packed with his lightsaber and…well, that’s it.  It’s light, but it’s Vader, so we all kind of know what to expect, I guess.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I don’t really play the exclusives game, so I wasn’t thrilled by this one being only at Target.  But, over a long enough period of time, pretty much everything seems to show up in front of me, so I was able to snag one that got traded into All Time.  I’m glad, because I didn’t need the basic Kenobi look, but after getting Jabiim Kenobi, I really wanted a Vader to pair off with him.  This one’s an impressive piece in his own right, and a great companion piece too!

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3619: Man-Thing

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

MAN-THING

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0098: In the mid ’70s, Marvel published extra-long issues of some of their books under the “Giant-Size” banner. Through this venture, there are not one, not two, but four issues of Giant-Size Man-Thing.

For the most part, I tend to map out my schedule of reviews at least a few weeks in advance, but I didn’t actually pick the subject of today’s review until just yesterday afternoon. It was definitely more down to the wire than I like to go. But, here we are, with a Man-Thing. So, you know, umm, there’s that? Look, let’s just call him Ted, right?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Man-Thing is the Build-A-Figure for the self-titled series of Marvel Legends from 2017. The set was the first Marvel Knights-themed series, meant to loosely tie-in with the release of the Netflix Defenders show, and giving us a handful of show-based figures mixed with some comics-based ones. Ted here was purely comics based at the time, but he’s made the jump to live action since, with a look that honestly isn’t that far removed from this one.  The figure stands 7 3/4 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  The sculpt for this figure is a totally unique one.  I’ve long felt that the Toy Biz Legends Man-Thing was one of their best offerings, so this one had a very serious bar to clear.  It takes a decidedly different approach, going for a larger, more bulked up version of the character.  He’s also a little more balanced out and less piece-meal looking than the Toy Biz version.  That said, it’s still a very detailed, very rich sculpt, and certainly ranks as one of Hasbro’s best.  The color work does a fair bit to assist the sculpt, as he gets quite a bit of accent work, far beyond what we tend to see from Hasbro.  There’s a darker wash on most of the body, plus some lighter detailing on a few spots as well.  It all works quite nicely, and it’s one of the few times that a Hasbro paint scheme honestly rivals the original Toy Biz version.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

The Toy Biz Man-Thing remains one of my favorites from that line, so when this got shown off, I wasn’t 100% sure I needed one.  But, I did give it an honest try at finishing it, before giving up when the assortment proved rather difficult to get my hands on.  After five years, I got down to needing two parts, and then wound up just getting a complete one when it was traded into All Time last year.  Sort of takes the fun out of it, right?  Okay, not really.  This one is cool.  He’s different from the Toy Biz one, but in a way that makes them both equally cool.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3618: Silverbolt

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

SILVERBOLT

TRANSFORMERS LEGACY: UNITED (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0097: Eagles and wolves are both apex predators, though their completely differing tactics of hunting prey and different places in their respective food chains mean they have little, if any, interaction.  Unless, of course, they make up the two halves of a Fuzor.

It was difficult for me to truly avoid Beast Wars as a kid, what with it being a toy-driven show in the ’90s that aired during the Fox Kids block.  That said, it’s never been a *major* focus for me.  I remember watching it a little, but I only had two toys from it, and only really ever latched onto one character.  Of course, that character is Silverbolt, and he’s one of the best Transformers just in general, so, you know, big win there.  Since Hasbro went back to the Beast Wars well for Kingdom, I’ve been patiently waiting for my Silverbolt update, and boy did it take a while, but, hey, here it is.  Oh yeah.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Beast Wars Universe Silverbolt is part of the second Voyager Class assortment of Transformers Legacy: United, the banner that goes along with the third year of the Legacy branding.  He shipped alongside Cybertron Universe Starscream, and he was the heavier packed of the two.  In his robot mode, Silverbolt stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 24 workable points of articulation.  His articulation is an improvement on his vintage counterpart, of course, and it’s especially notable that his wings actually sit flat to his back, rather than just jutting straight out the back like the old one.  The new sculpt aims for improved accuracy to his animation model, and it does a pretty good job at that.  The details are a lot sharper, and the proportions are far less blocky than the original.  His color scheme is nicely handled, with a lot of molded silver, of course, but there’s plenty of painted elements as well.  Unlike the original figure, all the proper details get their painted work, and the application is all nice and clean.  Silverbolt is packed with his “feather swords”, which he can either hold, or clip onto his wings, replicating the show set-up.  They just clip on this time around rather than being spring-loaded this time around.

Silverbolt’s alt-mode is, as is tradition, a merging of a wolf and an eagle.  It’s a distinctive mode, to be sure, and this figure does a good job of capturing it.  The transformation scheme is actually pretty intuitive, and the end result holds together nicely.  His hind legs sit a little bit further back than I’d like, but beyond that, it’s pretty solid.  He’s also generally more posable in this form than the original, and even gets a posable jaw.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I sure do love me some Silverbolt, and I really wanted this figure.  I was quite excited to see him shown off, and the end result is very, very fun.  I have some minor quibbles, I suppose, but it’s all very small and ultimately rather meaningless.  It’s certainly not enough to detract from how super excited I am to have an update on the character.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3617: Xenk

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

XENK

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: GOLDEN ARCHIVE (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0096: Today’s figure has been on my pending review list for almost an entire year.

I’m a relatively new convert to the whole D&D thing, having only gotten into in late 2018…which is I guess a few years now, isn’t it?  Look, time’s been a cacophony since 2020.  Anyway, the point is that my very first D&D character was a guy called Maxwell Hold, the self-dubbed “Paladin of the People.”  I grew to have quite an attachment to that character, and the Paladin class in general, so I’ve also got an attachment to portrayals of paladins in other media.  So, it’s no surprise that my favorite part of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves was Regé-Jean Page’s Paladin Xenk.  Though only part of the main party for one “session” of the movie’s story, he was a ton of fun.  And he also got a figure, which I of course bought.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Xenk was released in the third assortment of Hasbro’s Dungeons & Dragons: Golden Archive line, which served as their central tie-in to the movie last year.  Xenk was released alongside Doric and a re-pack of Edgin, in a set that was, effectively, a Hasbro Pulse exclusive, since the line was sadly dropped by most retailers after the first round.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  The figure is, honestly, a little smaller than I was expecting.  Golden Archive seems to be more like Black Series for scaling, if not maybe a touch smaller.  Like, it’s not awful, but it does hinder cross compatibility a bit.  The articulation scheme is an interesting mix of different styles.  I found it particularly prone to sticking joints, but they did at least all free up on my copy.  I was surprised by the lack of any rocker-style motion on the ankles, as that’s become a fairly standard joint for the scale.  It makes posing him quite limited, and is not helped by the hips being further restricted by the “skirt.”  Xenk’s sculpt is a totally unique one.  It’s decent enough.  The head’s got a solid likeness of Page.  The body, especially the armored parts, are a bit on the soft side in terms of detailing.  That said, the proportions are decent, and the layout of the parts of the outfit works pretty well too.  The color work on this figure is a little more basic than I’d expected.  There’s a lot more chunks of unpainted plastic than I’d expected.  He also seems a little brighter in color than he seemed in the movie, but that may just be a selective lighting thing.  The work on the face is at least pretty impressive, down to the little mark on his forehead.  Xenk’s only accessory was his sword.  It’s very light for what the figure cost.  At least throw in his dagger from the movie, maybe?  Or some extra hands?  Something?  Not helping matters is that my figure’s sword broke about 10 seconds after I removed it from the package.  Not a lot of fun there.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

The D&D movie hit theatres at a bad time for me to make it out to a theatre, so I waited until streaming for it.  Which, of course, lined up perfectly with this figure’s release, so I ordered him shortly after finishing the movie.  I was thrilled to get him, and then I opened him…and the sword broke…and I lost momentum.  I’ve been repairing the sword for the better part of a year, trying for a fix that would stick.  I finally got it to a good enough spot to at least get the photos, and here we are.  The core figure isn’t bad.  He’s not thrilling, but he does what he needs to.  Were it not for the broken sword, I think I’d have liked him a lot more.  Still, he’s at least cool on the shelf, and he’s a fun paladin figure.

#3616: Cyclops

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

CYCLOPS — SPACE RIDERS

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

Fun FiQ Fact #0095: While Cyclops’s only space suited appearance in X-Men: The Animated Series kept his usual headgear from the show under his helmet, his fully cowled look showed up under his space suit in the “Pryde of the X-Men” pilot.

Hey, you know those X-Men Space figures I was talking about last week? Those are pretty fun. Wanna read about them some more? Well, I sure hope so. And, hey, this time it’s a Cyclops. Can never get enough of the Cyclopes!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyclops is the third piece of the “Space Riders” assortment of Toy Biz’s X-Men line, released as a deluxe item in 1997.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and he has 8 points of articulation.  Like the rest of this line-up, Cyclops’s sculpt was an all-new one, based on a wholly original design for the character.  Cyclops’s design is definitely drawing a fair bit of its visual elements from the Jim Lee design, which makes a fair bit of sense.  One of the neat things about this particular release, however, was the presence of his cowled look, which hadn’t been featured in the main X-Men line since the first series*.  It’s fun to see how far the line’s sculpting had progressed since those early figures.  There’s definitely a lot of stylization to this one, and I’m not *entirely* sure how I feel about the weird sneering expression.  The body sculpt is a bit stiff, which was common with these figures.  The armored elements definitely feel a little bit tacked on and random, especially on the arms.  I’m not sure that suits a character like Cyclops, but it does at least feel pretty consistent with this era of X-Men designs.  The proportions are also a little bit wacky, with that left hand in particular being…just odd.  I don’t know.  It’s, like, too large, and also something seems off about his fingers.  The color work on this guy is pretty by the numbers.  It’s a lot of blue and yellow, and, honestly, what more could you ask of a Cyclops.  The paint’s not nearly as sloppy on this figure as it was on Wolverine, which is certainly a plus.  It’s still a little bit sloppy, of course, but nothing beyond the usual expected level for this era of Toy Biz.  Cyclops is packed with his face mask, his big inter-locking space sled, and some disc projectiles (missing from my copy).  I don’t like this mask quite as much as the Wolverine one; the visor bit is cool enough, but the shaping just seems a little off, and I don’t much care for the extra hose leading to his hand.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

Cyclops was the only one of these I had as a kid.  And I didn’t even have the space sled bit!  Really, I had looked at him a bunch of times and came very close to buying him (largely for that cool cowled head), but he was gone from retail by the time I’d truly made up my mind.  So, I wound up getting a loose one, at a toy show, I believe.  Or maybe it was a Comic Con?  I don’t know.  I remember fishing him out of a big cardboard box.  I was pretty excited at the time, but I did regret missing out on his extra gear.  Thankfully, I found a full set, and he came with it, so that was pretty fun.

*Though the look would have shown up again on a more proper ’70s/’80s Cyclops figure had the second round of Missile Flyers not been cancelled.

#3615: R2-D2 (Artoo-Deetoo)

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

R2-D2 (ARTOO-DEETOO)

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0094: This review was supposed to run back in January, but I misplaced the figure before getting photos, and only just unearthed him last week.

I have a soft spot for robots, but for reasons that don’t really line up internally, I have a hard time getting excited about R2-D2 figures. I don’t know why. Other droids I can get excited about, even other Astromechs. Hand me an R5 and I’m thrilled. But R2? Not the same. Maybe he’s just too central a character, kind of like my thing with Duke and Optimus? It’s not that I dislike the character, nor that I don’t *want* to own him in figure form. So, I do buy him…I’m just less enthusiastic about it.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

R2-D2 (Artoo-Deetoo) was initially released as part of the third series of the Return of the Jedi Retro Carded Black Series figures.  He was then subsequently re-released, now bearing branding from The Mandalorian, in the last standard Black Series assortment of last year, alongside Hera, Huyang, Marrok, and Pre Vizsla.  It’s worth noting that the figure reviewed here is the standard assortment version, but the two releases appear to be identical.  The figure is a little under 4 inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation.  One of the more notable issues with the last astromech mold is how small it was; Lucasfilm has gone back and forth on their standards for R2’s scaling, and when the original Black Series release hit, they were opting for smaller than he actually was on screen.  The standards have changed again since, but there was already a mold, and Hasbro stuck with it for as long as they could.  This new one, however, aims for more proper scaling, adding about 3/4 of an inch, and generally scaling him up to match.  The sculpt is, at least outwardly, very similar to the previous one, just bigger.  The general articulation scheme is similar as well, with basic swivels at the shoulders and ankles, and hinged doors on the sides.  He also has opening flaps on his front, and now has a swivel at the top of the third leg.  Additionally, the way the third leg works has been re-worked, so it’s no longer connected to the head spinning.  The head now can spin 360 degrees unimpeded by the mechanism, and the leg doesn’t require the head to spin to lower it.  While it’s less gimmicky and odd, it’s also a lot harder to get the third leg out once it’s been retracted, so it’s a 50/50 on which approach is better.  The head now gets is own extending feature, based on unused concept work for The Phantom Menace.  It’s goofy, and certainly not essential, but it’s also a fun little extra.  R2’s paint work is decent enough.  It’s all pretty cleanly handled, and again pretty much matches what was done on the original.  It’s all pretty clean and sharp, and it looks appropriately the part.  R2 is packed with four different arm attachments, plus his periscope and radar attachments for the head.  He lacks the thrusters and the lightsaber (especially notable since his first release was on the RotJ card) of the first one, but there’s at least some nice options here.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I struggled getting enthused for the first R2 from the line.  The second I did better with, since the Dagobah look is a little more exciting.  This one’s effectively the original but bigger, so I wasn’t even sure I was going to buy him at all.  But, I was getting the rest of the set, and he did look pretty solid in person, so I broke.  And then, you know, I lost him.  As you do.  But I found him, so it’s alright.  He’s not bad.  The scaling is better, and some of the features a better refined.  He’s also notably sturdier, which I do like.  So, he’s fun.  But he’s R2, so I’m back to struggling to get excited.  Maybe I should have gotten the updated R5 instead?

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3614: Giant-Man & Wasp

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

HANK PYM — GIANT-MAN & JANET VAN DYNE — WASP

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0093: Hank Pym was not originally intended to be a super hero, and was simply the star of a story of a man who shrank to the size of an ant, before being retooled into a superhero in subsequent appearances.

When the Giant-Man HasLab was in swing, the lack of a matching Wasp in the current line was brought up a few times, and Hasbro eventually showed off a Wasp prototype, noting that she’d be released in some fashion later this year. Well, here we are, apparently, with not just Wasp, but also a conspicuously not so giant Giant-Man. Let’s jump right in, shall we?

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Giant-Man and Wasp are a Hasbro Pulse-exclusive Marvel Legends two-pack. They were shown off in April, with the intent for them to go up for preorder the following day. Then it turned out that pre-order was actually just actively in-stock, at least for some batch of them. The pack is a continuation of the Beyond Earth’s Mightiest anniversary celebration from last year, and is also intended to loosely tie-in with the Giant-Man HasLab shipping some time in the fall.

HANK PYM — GIANT-MAN

Hey, it’s Regular-Sized-Man! It’s not as much of a novelty now to get a standard-sized Hank in his Giant-Man costume, since we’ve had a few, but it was a big deal a while ago, when it never happened. Of course, this is the first time his original Giant-Man costume has gotten the treatment, so it’s still a little bit special. The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation. He’s using the updated ANAD 2099 body with the pinless arm and leg construction, which all makes sense. Hank isn’t super bulky or super skinny, so this threads that needle. He gets a new head and belt. The head is decent. Obviously, the HasLab will be more detailed, given the scaling, but this one looks okay, and fits with the depictions of Hank we’ve gotten more recently. The belt is basic, but it works. His paint work is okay for the most part,m. There’s a spot of black on the upper torso that shouldn’t be there, but it’s otherwise pretty clean. I’m not a huge fan of the painted red on the tops of the boots, but it’s either that or painting the whole shin blue, which seems impractical. Hank is packed with an unmasked head (reused from the West Coast Avengers pack), a soft goods lab coat, four hands (a gripping/fist combo and an open gesture pair), two beakers/flasks, and a miniature Quinjet.

JANET VAN DYNE — WASP

The real star here is Wasp, who isn’t a stranger to Legends, but isn’t as frequent with *good* ones. Also, this particular look, which is her original one, has only been offered as little mini figures previously, and never as a full-scale figure of her own. The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and she has 34 points of articulation, plus a moving head-set piece.  Wasp re-uses the pinless double jointed arms and legs from Shriek, since they’re pretty basic.  The head, torso, skirt, and forearms are new, and they’re quite nicely handled.  I was especially impressed with the head sculpt, which manages to translate her pointy-headgear without it looking too silly, and I really like the moving head-set piece.  She’s re-using the wings from the prior comic Wasps, which are decent enough, so there’s no reason to change them at this point.  Wasp’s color work is a lot cleaner than Hank’s, which I certainly like to see.  Since the sculpt is a more complex assembly, there’s a lot more molded coloring in place, which makes it generally a much sharper looking piece.  Wasp is packed with two sets of hands (open and fists), a tablet (re-used from AIM Supreme), and an alternate head without the cowl.  It’s a little lighter than Hank, but she’s also got a lot more new parts than he did, so it makes sense.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I, of course, backed the HasLab Giant-Man during his campaign window, so I’m in the group of people patiently awaiting his arrival.  I was definitely looking for a good Wasp, so this one was very high on my list.  I kind of thought we might see a standard sized Hank alongside her, and I’m honestly all about it.  I wasn’t expecting to get them quite so quickly, but Max hooked me up with a set on the earlier side, and, well, here we are.  Hank’s fine.  Nothing special, but nifty enough.  Jan is very nice, and she’s gonna be my default version of the character going forward.  And now I finally have the whole Avengers #4 line-up in one cohesive style!

#3613: Cyclops

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

CYCLOPS

MARVEL COMICS (SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLES)

Fun FiQ Fact #0092: The plural of Cyclops is “Cyclopes”

Did you guys hear there’s, like, an X-Men-related thing going on today?  Nothing crazy.  Just the season finale for X-Men ’97 is all.  I’m just a tad bit excited about that.  And, when I’m excited about X-Men stuff, I tend to default to reviewing Cyclops figures.  I kicked off my ‘97 hype with a ’90s-style Cyclops, so I might as well close it out with another one.  Of course, the first one was on one end of the price-spectrum, while this one’s over on the other.  This one’s all fancy, you guys!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyclops was released by Sideshow as part of their Marvel Comics line in the spring of 2021.  There were three versions available: a Jim Lee-inspired look with both standard and Sideshow-exclusive editions, and an Astonishing version.  This one is the Sideshow-exclusive release, and I’ll note the difference there when I get to the accessories section.  The figure stands a little over 12 inches tall and he has over 30 points of articulation.

Since Cyclops is from later in Sideshow’s 1/6 run, he’s a bit of a step up in quality from the other offerings I’ve looked at here.  This is very evident in the figure’s head sculpt, which is quite a thoroughly detailed piece of work.  He takes the comic stylings for the character and makes them look more like a real live person, which, well, if I’m honest, seems to involve making him look quite a bit like James Marsden.  I mean, I can’t really say I’m complaining about that, since it’s not like Marsden looks *unlike* the character, and he’s certainly got that nostalgia kick on his side.  It’s also not like it’s 100% meant to be him, so there’s still a little more comic Cyclops peaking through.  If I have one complaint, it’s that the “ears” of the visor wind up sitting just a touch too close to the head for my liking, making it easy for them to get lost with the visor fully in place.  I was quite impressed by the paint quality on this figure, especially the way the hair detailing works out.

Cyclops is built on a rather standardized body, which works okay.  However, one of the things I’ve never been super keen about with most of Sideshow’s offerings is how the bodies scale relative to the heads; the figures always look just a touch too scrawny to my eye.  Cyclops sort of experiences this, and it’s especially notable with it being the Jim Lee look and all.  With some decent posing, especially making sure his shoulders are up, he looks alright, though.  Topping off the body, Cyclops gets a heavily Jim Lee-inspired outfit, which features a cloth bodysuit and trunks, as well as sculpted elements for his belt/harness, leg straps, and boots.   The bodysuit gets a little more piping than the original design, and the boots and gloves get extra work as well, but it all reads as the classic design.  And, he even keeps the shorts, unlike the Mezco update of this look.

Cyclops’ standard release includes seven hands (pairs of fists, pointing, and gesture, as well as a thumbs up left hand), a removable bomber-style jacket, a standard visor, a blasting visor, and a display stand.  The exclusive adds a third visor into the mix, this time with a smoking effect to one side.  It’s very easy to break.  I should know, I got mine broken.  The hands give the figure some nice variety, though I was surprised not to get a two-fingered point for visor use.  Of course, the figure can’t quite get his hand up to his temple anyway, so it wouldn’t get much use.  The bomber jacket is by far my favorite piece, since it’s such a key piece of this look, and it also helps to mask the scrawniness of the base body.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

This figure came from All Time’s epic collection that’s been being processed for a couple of months now.  In fact, it was the only of the things I’ve gotten that I explicitly knew in advance would be part of the collection.  It took a little bit to unearth him, though.  I remember this figure being released, but I was in a different place in my life and concerned with other, more important things.  But, with a second chance, and at an exclusive version at that, I didn’t want to miss out again.  It helps that he’s so very impressive in person.  He’s not perfect, but he’s very fun, and a nifty update to a classic design.  And now I’ve got a Cyclops for my 1/6 shelves.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.