Category Archives: Reviews

#3938: Nightwing

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

NIGHTWING

BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY (DC COLLECTIBLES)

The Arkham line of games made quite a splash for DC in the ‘10s, which was good, because they found themselves struggling with most of their other media endeavors.  The first game was relatively focused on Batman and his rogues housed at the asylum, and the tie-in figures were likewise more focused.  The sequel expanded things out to a wider Gotham City, allowing for a wider swathe of the Bat-family, and a much larger line in general.  Two of the three Robins were present in City, with Dick Grayson occupying his “Nightwing” role in some of the game’s DLC.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nightwing was released in Series 4 of the DC Collectibles Batman: Arkham City line.  This was the standard release, and he also figured into a multi-pack, which saw him get a slightly different deco.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 17 points of articulation.  DC Direct/Collectibles was still not really up to par on articulation at this point, but I suppose they were trying.  There are elements here that work (mainly the arms) and elements that really don’t (the neck is especially pointless), which feels very true of their general approach to a lot of things.  His sculpt was all-new to this release.  He’s based on the character’s primary design in game, which is essentially Jim Lee’s “Hush” design filtered through the game universe’s “tactical” aesthetic.  It’s an okay look, and I think one that stays a bit truer to the spirit of Nightwing than some of the other characters’ designs did.  The suit in particular feels like it’s got a good flow to it.  I’ve never been *crazy* about the hair, but I think that’s partly linked to how the model has to work within gameplay, so I can’t be too down on it.  The sculpt captures it all pretty well, following closely with the game models, and also putting a lot of really nice work into the figure’s texturing and suit layout.  Paint work is decent as well.  This is the main color scheme, so it’s a little on the darker side (I personally prefer a brighter blue for Nightwing’s logo), but it does what it’s supposed to, the application is all clean, and all of the elements are properly painted.  There’s a little bit of slop around his hairline, but it’s generally minor.  Nightwing is packed with his two batons, which can either be held or stored on his back.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I never played the Arkham games myself (though I did watch my brother play through City and Knight), but I’ve jumped in on the figures every now and again.  I’m always down for a Nightwing figure, and I’ve been sort of loosely looking for his figures from the game for a while.  Nearer the beginning of the year, I got the chance to help process an entire run of the Arkham figures, which also gave me the opportunity to snag this guy for myself.  I can’t say he’s a great figure or anything, but he’s certainly nifty, and I do like a nifty Nightwing figure.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3937: Blastaar

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

BLASTAAR

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOY BIZ)

“Dubbed the Living Bomb-Burst by the subjects he once ruled within the strange dimension called the Negative Zone, the mighty Blastaar has the power to generate staggering explosions from his fingertips. But, despite this power, Blastaar was eventually overthrown, and he was exiled to our positive universe! Now he uses his concussive abilities to try to recreate his lost empire…but the Fantastic Four inevitably foil his schemes for conquest!”

The Negative Zone, an alternate dimension that exists singularly throughout all of the Marvel multiverse and is ever writers favorite way of explaining things they don’t want to explain, first appeared in the pages Fantastic Four, where it was initially an uninhabited space.  A year after it debuted, though, it got its first resident of note, Blastaar, a deposed monarch of the Zone.  He made a brief appearance in the ‘90s FF cartoon, and by extension, got his first action figure via Toy Biz’s tie-in line for the show.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Blastaar is part of Series 2 of Toy Biz’s Fantastic Four line, released in 1994.  He’s one of the three villains included in the line-up.  The figure stands just shy of 5 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  Blastaar’s mobility is really restricted, due both to his design and his action feature.  The neck has a cut joint, but because of the hair, he sort of only moves it at an angle.  He’s also lacking any elbow joints, and his arms are at a very straight angle.  The sculpt is unique to Blastaar, and it’s actually a pretty impressive piece of work.  He’s suitably bulky, as the character should be, and there’s some very nice texturing, especially on the figure’s hair and beard.  He’s got a bit of a Kirby vibe, but also still manages to fit with the rest of the line.  The only real quirk of the sculpt is how the action feature works into it.  He “blasts” missiles out of his hands, meaning they need to run up the entire length of his arms, meaning the arms are totally straight, and he’s got holes on either side of the arms.  There’s also no clip or actual proper launching feature, so they just sort of pop back out.  The paint work on Blastaar is pretty simple for the most part, but hits all the important notes for the character.  He’s packed with the two missiles, for use with his launching feature.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Blastaar is on the earlier end of additions to my collection; I got him as a gift from a family friend back when he was new.  I knew nothing of the character at the time, and he ultimately got kind of overshadowed by the fact that I got Cyclops II at the same time, and that was clearly where all of my focus went.  Blastaar himself kind of got thrown to the side, and ultimately ended up in my Dad’s collection.  I wound up replacing that one more recently.  He’s a good figure, who very much didn’t get a proper shake when I was a kid.  But…you know, Cyclops.

If you want to see this figure in motion, I did a quick video with him over on the Figure in Question YouTube channel, so check that out here!

#3936: Barquin D’an & Droopy McCool

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

BARQUIN D’AN & DROOPY McCOOL

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

In terms of on-screen musicians, the Star Wars Original Trilogy’s really just got the two main contenders: the cantina band from the first movie (officially named “Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes”) and the band from Jabba’s palace (the Max Rebo Band).  The Nodes are all members of the same species, the Bith, while the Rebo band was more eclectic, with each of its three members being from a separate species.  The special edition surmised that two great tastes might taste great together, so amongst the new members added to the Rebo band was a Bith by the name of Barquin D’an, who got figure treatment alongside original member Droopy McCool.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Barquin D’an and Droopy McCool are the second of three two-packs released as part of the “Max Rebo Band Pairs,” a Walmart-exclusive Star Wars: Power of the Force II offering from 1998.  It continued the theme of one old and one new that split across all of the sets.

BARQUIN D’AN

Though the race was totally absent from the vintage line, Power of the Force II did okay by the Bith, with the mail-away figure that could act as the Modal Nodes if you got enough, and also this guy.  In-universe, Barquin is Figrin’s brother, and may or may not also be present at the cantina, just not playing.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  The Nodes got elbow and wrist joints so that all of the instruments could be used, but Barquin is sculpted specifically for one instrument, so he’s a fair bit more restricted.  His sculpt’s not far removed from the mail-away figure, especially the head, but there’s some subtle differences.  The body’s more notable, with a more svelte build, and Barquin’s more unique attire.  It’s also a bit more accurate to the source, since the source was still very recent and easily accessible at the time.  His color work’s generally minor, but the accenting on the head in particular is very nice.  Barquin is packed with his kloo horn, which is molded in gold and gets a nice rustic sort of finish, which makes it feel very used.

DROOPY McCOOL

Okay, so before I get into the main thing here, I was looking at the Star Wars wiki for info, and in the very short two paragraph entry for Droopy, there’s a specific note that his body releases a “vanilla-like smell.”  That’s such an odd main point, but it’s right there.  I feel like if you’re gonna assign one Star Wars character a smell, you gotta do them all, right?  Well, the figure smells like plastic, so there’s that.  Droopy was included in the vintage line, with a figure based on generally the same look.  This one was…different?  Like, not really majorly so, but different.  The figure stands just under 3 3/4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation.  His movement is greatly restricted by his sculpt.  Mostly, it’s just there for minor attunement so that he can stand and hold his instrument.  You aren’t getting much variety out of this one.  The pose is at least a good one, though, so it’s hard to complain too much.  The sculpt’s honestly pretty strong.  His vintage counterpart was very soft, but this one has a lot of texture and creasing, and looks very unique on the shelf with the others.  His color work makes a lot of the sculpt as well, with accenting to bring out the many folds and wrinkles in the skin.  It’s quite dynamic, and makes it much easier to see details that would have otherwise fallen to the wayside.  Droopy is packed with his chindinkalu flute, which fits very nicely in his hands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like last week’s set, I was able to snag these two loose via a trade-in at All Time Toys a little over a year ago, after being on the lookout for the band for a decent while.  Of the new additions to the band, Barquin’s always been my favorite, largely because I just think the Bith are a cool design, hence my similar love of the Nodes.  He’s a basic, but still neat figure, and I like seeing the different approach to him, versus the Nodes.  I didn’t expect much of Droopy, but he’s very unique, and I think he’s got a fun presence on the shelf.  Of the three sets, I find this one to be the most balanced, and I do really like that.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3935: Morph

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

MORPH

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

The character of Morph was created for X-Men: The Animated Series by re-working an obscure X-Men foe “Changeling” essentially for the sole purpose of having a team member to kill off in the pilot, to show the seriousness of the situation.  Morph, however, proved to be a lot more popular than the show runners had expected, so the character’s death was reversed at the end of the first season, and they returned as an antagonist in the second, before eventually turning on Mr. Sinister (who had kept them alive, but brainwashed them), and returning to the team as a reserve member.  For the show’s continuation, X-Men ’97, Morph is once more a full-fledged member of the team, and that’s finally paid off in figure form, too!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Morph is part of the third X-Men ’97 tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends.  Due to delays with the show and a lack of knowledge of the exact demand for product, the third round had a pretty significant delay from the first and second, with over a year’s worth of space between them.  This is the animated Morph’s second time in Legends form, following up on their first release in the VHS line.  Obviously, that one was based on Morph’s original animated design, which was really just Changeling in a standard X-uniform.  Morph’s success in the show led to the character’s reintroduction during “Age of Apocalypse,” which saw a rather radical redesign.  For ’97, Morph is sporting a design that mixes the two notable looks together, with the presumption that this is Morph’s default state, and the more “human” look seen during the original run (which makes a brief re-appearance in the first episode of ’97) is an affected look used to fit in better.  The figure stands just under 6 1/4 inches tall and they have 32 points of articulation.  Morph is sporting an all-new sculpt.  The articulation scheme is a bit stiff and old-fashioned, apart from the pinless construction, but it does what it needs to.  They end up feeling a bit like the What If…? figures in terms of movement.  The actual sculpt is a good match for the animation model.  The last Morph sort of fit them into the more general Legends style, and was likewise a bit more bulked up than their in-show appearance.  This figure sticks much closer to Morph’s more svelte design, giving them a more unique feel, overall.  Morph’s color work is largely molded colors, which is always pretty clean.  There’s a bit of accenting on their face, to keep it from being *too* blank, which works pretty well.  Morph is packed with two sets of hands (in fists and open), an alternate original series styled head, and an alternate Gyrich head.  Alternate heads are a classic bit for Morph, and I do generally dig them (especially taking the opportunity to offer Gyrich, since he’s a rather noteworthy character who’s never gotten a figure), but unfortunately the molded color on the neck is a match for the standard head, meaning they’ll always have an off-white neck.  Since the neck’s a separate piece, it’s too bad they couldn’t include an alternate part to swap in.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Morph’s certainly a favorite of mine, especially in regards to the original series, and all of the figures included.  I’ve always had a soft spot for them, and I was thrilled to hear they were being promoted to full-fledged team member for the revival.  I was a bit bummed by no Morph figures at launch, but I’m glad they were amongst the first of the post-show product.  Definitely a fun little figure.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3934: Human Torch

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

HUMAN TORCH

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOY BIZ)

“Bombarded by cosmic rays while on an experimental space flight, teenager Johnny Storm gained an ability to match his fiery disposition. With but a thought, his body would ignite and burst into flame! Realizing that he must use his powers in the service of mankind, Johnny became the Human Torch, and fights to protect the world as a member of the Fantastic Four!”

I’ve discussed a few times here on the site Toy Biz’s strange fascination with not doing all four members of the Fantastic Four when they did the team in plastic form.  This first cropped up in their Fantastic Four line meant to tie-in with the 1994 cartoon of the same name, where, for reasons that baffled pretty much everyone, they split the main team between the first two series, with Reed and Ben in Series 1 and Sue and Johnny in Series 2.  Retailers, not particularly keen to carry the first series of a line that was only offering half of a team with the number of members in the name of the team, weren’t thrilled, and demanded the missing two members be added to the line-up.  Since the unique molds for Sue and Johnny weren’t yet ready, Toy Biz had to put together two hastily made replacements, using the parts available to them.  And that’s how we got today’s figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Human Torch was a Series 1 release for Toy Biz’s Fantastic Four line.  Sort of.  Kind of.  Not *officially* I suppose, since he’s not actually shown in the Series 1 line-up, but he was on a Series 1 card, and shipped alongside them, just like Sue, making him sort of a Series 1.5 figure, I guess.  This was Johnny’s second figure under Toy Biz, and would of course be quickly followed by another a series later.  The figure stands just under 5 inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation.  Since Johnny’s cartoon-based sculpt wasn’t ready yet, he was represented here as a repaint of fellow Series 1 figure Silver Surfer.  It’s a pretty bold strategy to re-use a sculpt from the same series for a totally different character, but they sure did it.  I guess it’s not the worst thing, since Surfer’s pretty basic in the first place, so he’s a blank canvas of sorts.  The weird DJ arm is even weirder here, but maybe he’s just waving “hi” to everyone.  What has to sell this figure is the color work, which does its best to be radically different.  He’s very orange, so that helps.  Since the sculpt is just basic and there’s no sculpted flames, this one’s just got them painted on, in glow-in-the-dark paint, no less.  It’s a very hokey look that really doesn’t work, but at the same time, it makes me think of the Mego Torch, and that does amuse me.  Human Torch got Cannonball’s launching stand, modified to remove the “X”, and also with the glow-in-the-dark flames.  It’s goofy and silly, but it does send him launching backwards, which is good for a laugh.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This is the second to last figure I needed to complete my Toy Biz FF run.  I never personally had this one as a kid (my dad did, though), coming into the line late enough to get both of the proper Johnnys from the later series.  This one always felt odd and half-formed.  He doesn’t even get to be a sufficiently different repaint like Sue did.  Just the second best flamed on Johnny in the line that only had two flamed on Johnnys.  He’s an interesting quirk of the Toy Biz approach, and at least one that’s got a goofy story behind him if nothing else.

If you want to see this figure in motion, I did a quick video with him over on the Figure in Question YouTube channel, so check that out here!

#3933: Sy Snootles & Joh Yowza

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

SY SNOOTLES & JOH YOWZA

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

First appearing during the Jabba’s Palace sequence of Return of the Jedi, the band that would eventually be known as the Max Rebo Band was a three-piece band, and one that was never named on-screen.  The first names they got were courtesy of Kenner’s original toy releases, where they were collectively named as “Sy Snootles and the Rebo Band,” with the main name hailing from Sy Snootles, the band’s front and center singer from the movie.  The first Special Edition release added new members to the band, and Sy was ultimately given a bit of a downgrade, with Max taking the official front man spot for the group as a whole.  There were three band pairs released by Kenner in their Power of the Force run, and today, I’m looking at original front performer Sy Snootles and one of the new additions, Joh Yowza!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Sy Snootles and Joh Yowza are the first of the three “Max Rebo Band Pairs” released by Kenner in 1998 as part of their Star Wars: Power of the Force II line.  The pairs were all exclusive to Walmart at the time.  This set in particular has the notoriety of being the only totally CGI character-focused one, so there’s that.

SY SNOOTLES

As one of the original members, Sy was portrayed in the original film by use of a puppet.  For the Special Edition, she was re-designed to allow for more expressive and modern (at the time) effects-driven approach.  She’s ultimately a lot more cartoony, which is okay enough, and does at least make this a more drastically different figure from the original.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and she has 5 points of articulation.  Though she gets the basic movement, it’s generally pretty restricted.  A lot of that’s to do with the preposed nature of the figure’s sculpt, since she’s been given a rather sassy pose, which feels pretty in keeping with her characterization.  Despite not being very posable, the sculpt is nevertheless a pretty nice one.  It matches the design from the movie, and there’s also plenty of texture work, especially on the reptilian looking skin.  Sy’s color work also matches well with her film appearances.  It’s admittedly a bit of a departure from the usual Star Wars colors, especially the predominantly brown-based shades of Jabba’s palace.  The application’s pretty cleanly handled, and she even gets a little bit of accenting on her outfit.  Sy is without any accessories, though she was originally shown with a microphone and stand.  Since she doesn’t use them in the movie, though, they were dropped before release.

JOH YOWZA

Joh was added for the Special Edition, and is an entirely CGI creation.  He’s pretty much the epitome of the “annoying CGI creations that jump in front of the screen and make noise.”  So, you know, he’s not particularly well-liked.  It doesn’t help that he doesn’t much *look* like a Star Wars character, but hey, that’s just how it is.  The figure stands about 3 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation that are even more pointless than those on Sy.  He’s really pre-posed, and exactly what that pose is supposed to be is…unclear?  I don’t know.  The sculpt does a good job of capturing Joh’s design, whatever your opinion of said design might be.  It’s got some interesting texture work, and if nothing else, the face is certainly expressive.  Joh’s paint work was pretty involved, with a fair bit of accent work going on.  The fur work in particular works pretty well.  Like Sy, Joh is without any accessories.  There was a third-party instrument made available, for people that didn’t want empty hands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My family didn’t really shop at Walmart in the ‘90s, and without access to the internet as it is, I didn’t really know about these sets until much later.  They’ve been on my want list for a good long while though.  I had the opportunity to grab most of the band members loose via a trade-in to All Time Toys about a year ago, which is how I got both of these.  Of the three sets, this one’s definitely the weakest.  Neither figure is really much in the way of playable, and Joh in particular just isn’t really impressive by any metric.  Still, they’re not terrible in the slightest.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3932: Ultraman Trigger Truth

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

ULTRAMAN TRIGGER TRUTH

SH FIGUARTS (BANDAI)

When I last reviewed an Ultraman figure here on the site, it was in fact an Ultraman completely unrelated to the usual Ultramen I review around here, what with being from Superman and all.  That said, I did have a proper Ultraman related review back in the spring.  Last year, though, I had a heck of a run of Figuarts Ultramen, and that was super fun.  Here’s a little more of that.  Ultraman Trigger: New Generation Tiga was released in 2021, corresponding with the 25th anniversary of Ultraman Tiga, to which it serves as a spiritual and thematic successor.  Much like Tiga, Trigger has a number of different forms he can use for different situations, which adds more possibilities for action figure releases.  Today, I’m looking at Trigger Truth, which is Trigger’s ultimate final form.  Yaaaaay!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultraman Trigger Truth was added to Bandai’s SH Figuarts line in the summer of 2023.  It’s a Tamashii Nations Store-exclusive.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and he has 44 points of articulation.  Trigger’s articulation scheme is really strong, moving further away from the more fiddly nature of earlier Ultras.  I was also quite pleased to see how much range he had on the shoulders, even with all the extra armoring.  Trigger’s designs are meant to emulate Tiga in terms of vibe and style.  His standard look equating to Tiga’s, and Trigger Truth is a bit of a build on that general look, working in elements of some of his earlier forms.  It’s a fun amalgamation of various elements, and it certainly gives the sculpt a lot of more ornamental detailing to work with, an it does it really well.  The detailing is very clean, and captures his design quite nicely.  Like Tiga, Trigger’s main color scheme is a balance of silver, purple, and red, with a bit of gold accenting worked in.  Truth keeps that general set-up, but adds some additional black accenting, showing the elements he’s gained from his “Dark” form that figure into Truth.  It adds a nice pop to the design, which helps the other elements stand out even better.  Trigger Truth was packed with five pairs of hands (in fists, relaxed, two styles of flat, and open gesture), an additional hand with a True Zeperion Beam effect attached, and his True Timer in two different colors.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My last run of Figuarts Ultramen kind of all fell into my lap, but since then it’s been a bit slower, since I don’t have as easy a time finding them, what with them all being imports and all.  But, as luck would have it, my wife was going on a trip to New York with her siblings, and invited me along, giving me the opportunity to swing by the Tamashii Nations Store in NYC, which of course calls for an Ultraman purchase.  This guy was the one that jumped out at me, so he was the one I snagged.  He’s a lot of fun.  I knew pretty much exactly what to expect, but that doesn’t make a new Ultraman any less awesome to get.

#3931: Cyborg

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

CYBORG

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

“Though Vic Stone’s body was destroyed in an accident, science gave him a new one, which he’s used as a both a Teen Titan and a member of the Justice League.”

Kenner’s Super Powers line had a three year run in the ‘80s, during which time they released 33 standard release figures, and 1 mail-away.  By far the rarest of the figures are those that come from the final assortment of the line, with the grail of the original collection being the first figure of the then family recently created Cyborg.  McFarlane’s revival of Kenner’s line clocked 64 new single release figures, and an additional 8 figures offered through multi-packs and the like.  And wrapping up (at least as far as we know) the McFarlane run, much like the original Kenner one, is Cyborg!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyborg is the final figure in Series 11 of McFarlane’s Super Powers line, a “Gold Label” release that was exclusive to McFarlane’s online store.  Of the four figures offered, he’s the only one that’s a direct recreation of a vintage release.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  He’s definitely on the larger side, which in some ways makes you wonder if this was an earlier sculpt that was shelved for a while.  That said, given Cyborg’s robotic nature and the usual depictions of his scale, it’s not really out of place for him to be this size.  This release notably gives Cyborg the standard assortment of articulation, which means he gets the knee joints that his vintage counterpart lacked.  Yay for knees!  Cyborg’s sculpt is a unique one.  Clearly, it’s meant to be patterned on the vintage version, in terms of styling and in pose, but it’s not a direct copy.  It’s generally good.  The technical details on the cybernetic parts are very clean and crisp, and follow his look from the style guide well.  I’m not sure about the head; the human half seems a little bit soft in its detailing.  It’s far from the worst thing, and at least he doesn’t have the “McFarlane face” that the earlier figures did, so I can’t complain too much.  Cyborg’s color work marks the largest departure from his original, a figure defined by it’s super cool chrome finish via vac-metalizing.  This one doesn’t do that, instead just using a flat silver molded plastic.  It’s not a shock, since none of the the figures in the McFarlane line have done the chrome.  It’s a bummer that they didn’t at least go for painted silver, but ultimately, it’s not awful, and looks better than I expected.  Cyborg is without any accessories, meaning he’s also lacking the original’s swappable hand attachments, which is a real bummer, but again not a shock.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since I started collecting the vintage Kenner line, I knew Cyborg would be the Everest of that particular collection.  As I get nearer and nearer to the finish line, that’s only become amplified.  So, there’s just sort of this empty spot on my shelf, where a Cyborg might *eventually* go.  If I *HAD* one….  I’ve long hoped for some sort of Super Powers continuation that might include a Cyborg so that I could at least put *something* in that spot.  For most of McFarlane’s run, I wasn’t really sure I’d be getting it, but I was happy to be wrong.  Like the other three, I jumped on the order for this right away.  He’s not perfect, and I’m kind of kicking myself for not snagging a second set so that I could chrome one of the Cyborgs, but he’s a decent stand-in for the real thing, at least from a far, and I didn’t have to break the bank to get him.

And that is, near as we can tell, a wrap on the McFarlane Super Powers.  It’s been an interesting ride, if nothing else.  At the start of this line, I despised its very existence, feeling like it was a poor formed product that would just serve to ultimately rob me of the product I’d actually wanted for so many years.  But then, slowly, after a difficult path, the line morphed into essentially exactly what I’d wanted.  Sure, more than half the line was repaints and rehashes of stuff that we already had.  I do also find it darkly humorous that the one major complaint I have about the original run, which is that in a set of 34 figures, Wonder Woman was the only female character, is made even more prominent by McFarlane’s run, where in an additional 72 figures, we got….four more Wonder Women.  I’ve got a whole list of figures I wish we’d seen before the end.  But, at the end of the day, I personally got 35 new figures for my Super Powers collection, and I do honestly love them all.

#3930

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

SNOWBIRD & PUCK

ALPHA FLIGHT (TOY BIZ)

“In her human guise, she is simply known as Anne McKenzie. But those that are familiar with her true form know her as Snowbird, mystical protector of the Canadian North! Born of a human father and goddess mother, Snowbird was bestowed with various magical powers, including the ability to transform herself into any animal of the arctic regions, such as the ferocious wolverine! Nowadays Snowbird allies herself with other super powered individuals — like the jovial, cart-wheeling Puck — on Canada’s premier super hero team, Alpha Flight!”

Alpha Flight!  They’re just like other super heroes, but they’re also Canadian!  No, seriously, they’re mostly just other super heroes with Canadian elements tacked on top.  Well, I guess it helps keep them memorable.  There’s been a few rounds of toy coverage over the years for these guys, starting back in the ‘90s, when Toy Biz first debuted the team as an assortment of two-packs.  Thus far, I’ve looked at two of the three sets, and today, I’m wrapping up the set, a mere eight years after starting it, with a look at Snowbird and Puck!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Snowbird and Puck are, as noted above, the third and final two-pack from Toy Biz’s 1998 Alpha Flight line, wrapping up the team’s core line-up.

SNOWBIRD

In reading my old Alpha Flight reviews in prep for this one, I’ve discovered that I’ve mentioned that Snowbird is a Byrne creation the predates his comics work both times I’ve discussed the character.  So, guess I won’t fall into that trap again…apart from right here when I did it in a meta sense.  The real trouble with talking about Snowbird is that, while she may be the living embodiment of the spirit of Canada, she unfortunately doesn’t actually get much personality beyond that, so she’s just…there.  Her figure stands about 5 inches tall and she has 11 points of articulation.  The neck is effectively useless, but the shoulders are actually pretty nice, and giving her ankle joints allows her to be s touch more stable than some other figures of the era.  Her sculpt makes her very, very skinny, which isn’t much of a departure from how Byrne depicted her, I suppose.  The head seems to get the character down alright, and the costume details are etched in, rather than just simply relying on paint.  She also gets a cloth cape piece, which is simple, but hangs well and gets the job done.  Her color work is generally basic, but it’s clean, and it gets the colors down appropriately, helping sell her rather striking look.  Snowbird is packed with two additional versions of herself, one in bird form, the other in, like, maybe badger form?  Is it a wolverine?  Would that be redundant?

PUCK

The objective best member of Alpha Flight (you can’t fight me on this, I have facts on my side, and those facts are that I like him more than the others), Puck wasn’t added to the team until after they got their own book, presumably to make up for Wolverine having vacated his “short guy” position on the team.  While later releases would make more proper figures, this release turns Puck into effectively a glorified accessory to Snowbird.  He’s a little over 2 inches tall and he only has movement at the midsection.  It’s not really articulation, since it’s a spring-loaded joint so that you can make him do flips.  It’s…odd.  He’s way too small for proper scaling; Puck’s a small guy, but, like, actual, real-life little person small, not fully shrunken-down smaller scale person small.  At the very least, his head should be bigger than it is.  As it stands, he’s really just sort of a figurine, with quite a bit of preposing, which I guess isn’t the worst.  The sculpt doesn’t look *unlike* Puck, which is at least on the right track.  His color work does feel especially muted and dark, making him feel very murky and easily lost in the crowd when the whole team is together.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Northstar and Aurora as a kid, and I got Vindicator and Sasquatch in 2017.  I sort of forgot I did’t have this one, to the point that when a sealed set came into All Time as part of a much larger Toy Biz collection in 2023, I *almost* passed on them.  Thankfully, I came to my senses.  This set’s not as strong as the other two, because it’s really not a two-pack.  Because of the way they handled Puck, it’s really just Snowbird and a bunch of accessories.  She’s fine, I guess, but she’s Snowbird, so not the most thrilling.  Puck is really just a placeholder, and his later figures have thankfully been much better.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this set for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3929: Death Star Droid with Mouse Droid

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

DEATH STAR DROID with MOUSE DROID

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“A Death Star Droid approaches what appears to be a routine prisoner relocation. The two stormtroopers are actually Han Solo and Luke Skywalker conspiring to rescue the imprisoned Princess Leia.”

In the original Kenner Star Wars line, amongst the many droids offered was the Death Star Droid…or a figure labeled the Death Star Droid. In actuality, it was one of the droids seen in the Jawas’ sandcrawler, right down to the screen shot used on the box and everything.  In Kenner’s defense, both the droid from the sand crawler and the Death Star are RA-7 models (which is a translation for they used the same costume).  They would also fix their mix-up two decades later, under the late-run of Power of the Force II. 

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Death Star Droid was released in the Fan Club assortment of Star Wars: Power of the Force II in 1998.  He’s the last non-R2 and 3PO droid released in the line.  The figure stands just under 3 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  He was an all-new sculpt, which wound up re-used a few times down the line for various other RA-4 figures.  It’s similar in its styling to the C-3PO molds from the line, which makes a fair bit of sense.  It’s a solid sculpt, with pretty clean line-work, and it’s pretty accurate to the design seen in the movie.  The coloring on this guy is notable, largely because it’s, you know, actually accurate to the movie.  It’s actually really fun, because the whole thing is vac-metalized, and it’s got multiple shades, so he looks especially eye-catching and slick.  The Death Star Droid is packed with another droid entirely, the Mouse Droid.  It’s a really simple, single piece thing just molded in simple black plastic.  It’s also way over scaled for the line.  But, it’s also really neat, and who doesn’t love a Mouse Droid?  Somebody probably, but I can’t trust their opinions; they don’t even like the Mouse Droid.  Also included is a Freeze Frame, showing the Death Star Droid as it wanders past a disguised Luke and Han.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, I recall having the actual, vintage, incorrect Death Star Droid.  I did not, however, have this one, because the whole, you know, not released at retail bit.  Of the four Fan Club figures, he’s the one that was always the most intriguing to me, so I was pretty happy to find him sitting on a dealer’s table at Ocean City Comic-Con last year, and for a good price at that.  Of course, then I waited like 10 months to open him, because I don’t allow myself to enjoy nice things.  He’s good.  Really fun, really slick, and pretty unique.