Category Archives: Reviews

#3540: Drax The Destroyer & Moondragon

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

DRAX THE DESTROYER & MOONDRAGON

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0019: In the comics, Drax the Destroyer is not an alien, but rather the soul of a human man, Arthur Douglas, bound to an artificial body. His daughter Heather Douglas has her own identity, Moondragon!

My direct exposure to Marvel’s cosmic side as a kid was kind of fleeting.  I knew a little from the Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer cartoons, which was certainly cool and interest piquing, but I had to rely more on my Dad’s knowledge for the rest of things.  As such, I have the appreciation that he gave me for certain characters, which results in me liking characters that I’ve only really ever known second hand, just because he did.  That initially applied to Drax (though I knew him a *little* from the Surfer cartoon), but I’ve obviously gotten to know him better since the Guardians movies came out. It still kind of applies to Moondragon.  Still dig them both, though.  Certainly enough to buy this Marvel Legends set.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Drax and Moondragon were initially a Hasbro Pulse-exclusive Marvel Legends two-pack, but they were rather quickly upgraded to a wider Fan Channel release.  They’re part of a wider cosmic Marvel theme for exclusives from last year, which also featured the previously reviewed Ronan the Accuser, plus Star-Lord, and Yondu.

DRAX

In his initial appearances, Drax was more a tool than a character, designed to be the thing that took down Thanos.  As he progressed, he changed, in characterization and in look.  Early on, Drax wasn’t particularly large, but he grew in size over time, ultimately landing on the hulking behemoth look he’s got here.  The figure stands about 8 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Drax is built on the Caliban body, which is a reasonable choice for him.  He gets two new heads, new boots, and add-ons for his cape, bracers, and belt.  The heads give us stern and angry Drax options, which certainly makes for some fun variety.  I personally lean more towards the stern, but they’re both solid.  The cape is a little stiff, but not terribly so, and the other add-ons are pretty by the numbers, but still good.  His color work is quite fun; the bright green and purple definitely gives him some really nice pop.  It’s gonna be hard to miss him on the shelf.  Drax is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and relaxed, as well as the previously mentioned extra heads, which is honestly pretty strong for a figure of his size.

MOONDRAGON

Moondragon’s had a few looks over the years, all of them kind of circling around the same concept.  This figure uses a look that kind of averages them all.  It’s not bad.  This is only her second action figure (and the first was a Minimate), and her first Legend.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  She’s using the same pinless construction legs as Clea, with a bunch of newer, character-specific parts.  The new parts are surprisingly in depth in terms of detailing, with sculpted elements on her upper arms and upper torso, rather than just a bunch of painted details.  The head’s a solid recreation of her usual look in the comics.  Like Drax, the cape’s a bit restrictive, but it does at least look pretty cool.  Her color work is more subdued than her father’s, relying on some more minor changes in greens.  It’s still a good look, and definitely feels well suited to the character.  Moonstone is packed with two sets of hands.  It’s light, but I’m not entirely sure what else you would give her.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I passed on this set as Pulse-exclusive because I didn’t feel an undying need to jump through hoops to get them, but once they got the wider release, the hoops were gone.  Much easier to justify them at that point.  I largely got the pack for classic Drax, because I really dig that look.  He’s really fun, and exactly what I was hoping for.  Moondragon is a little less thrilling on her own, but she’s hardly a bad figure, and it’s nice to finally get her in Legends form.

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.

#3539: The Mandalorian – Glavis Ringworld

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

THE MANDALORIAN — GLAVIS RINGWORLD

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0018:  There have been 14 versions of Din Djarin released in The Black Series, and 6 of those releases have been some variation on his fully kitted-out Beskar armor.

My investment in Star Wars: The Black Series has dwindled a bit more recently, because I’m honestly starting to get ever so slightly Star Wars-ed out at the larger scale.  So, rather than get *everything*, I’m instead focusing a bit more on primary looks of heavy hitters.  There’s a bit more revisiting there than you might think at first go, which is kind of what we hit with today’s offering.  Early into the first season of The Mandalorian, main character Din Djarin upgrades to a full set of Beskar armor, which has been more or less the consistent look of the character since.  It doesn’t make for a ton of variation with figures, I guess, but they make do, and there’s enough minor tweaks to justify it, right?  Right.  So, here’s another Din Djarin.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Mandalorian – Glavis Ringworld is figure 08 in the Book of Boba Fett sub-line of Star Wars: The Black Series‘ Phase IV incarnation.  He’s based on Din’s ever so slightly tweaked look when he reappears in Book following a period going solo after handing Grogu over to Luke at the end of his own show’s second season, which is honestly a good look.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and he has 33 points of articulation.  We’ve had a general Beskar Din sculpt floating around in Black Series for a while, but it was kind of cobbled together and had a fair number of inaccuracies.  This figure gets an all-new sculpt to replace that, which is a really strong offering.  Of particular note, we’ve finally gotten a proper new helmet sculpt, after working with the slightly off one that went all the way back to the very first version.  The new one is pretty spot-on, getting the proper shaping down, and sporting sharp, clean detail work.  The articulation scheme is also tweaked, following the newer style; it works fine, but it does lean into the “no double joints” thing that Black Series has gotten into, which is at times reductive.  His armor construction has a bit more overlay to it, with more free floating parts.  Din’s cloak is also now a proper soft-goods piece, rather than the thicker rubber piece from the first release, which means he can finally wear the cloak and the jetpack at the same time, as he does in the shows.  That’s a definite plus.  Din’s color work is pretty solid; the paint application is all rather clean, with minimal slop and bleed over.  The silvers in particular are nice and sleek, and they’ve also added in his appropriate blue accenting, which gives him a nice degree of pop.  Din is packed with the Darksaber, his blaster pistol, and vibro-knife.  The Darksaber sports a modified hilt, which now has a loop, so it can hang from his belt, as seen in the show.  The knife is small, and he can’t really hold it…and also, there’s not really anywhere to keep it.  Still, I guess it’s cool that they included it at all.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I was pretty excited for the original Beskar Mando…and then he hit and he was kind of a let-down, honestly.  Still, I kind of pushed it off and called it a day on that look.  When this figure was announced, I was initially planning to skip this one, but the more I looked at it, the more it looked like the figure I wanted the first time around.  Simply put, that’s exactly what he is.  He’s the best Din Hasbro’s done, and just one of the line’s better figures in general.

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.

#3538: Mindless One Series Wrap-Up

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

IRON MAN, LADY BULLSEYE, FIST NINJA, & MINDLESS ONE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0017:  The “Marvel Knights” branding exists because of Marvel’s bankruptcy in the late ’90s, which caused them to hand over the publishing rights for a handful of lower tier characters to Event Comics.  The line proved a success, allowing the characters and attitudes of the stories to be folded back into the mainstream Marvel Universe in the mid ’00s.

As someone who’s been following Marvel Legends for pretty much the entirety of its over 20 year run, I’ve encountered an issue more recently where I don’t really feel the need to own *everything* Hasbro puts out for the line.  But, I do still have access to review most of it, so, I’m embracing my new format I launched last summer, and folding it into my tweaked format I launched at the beginning of the year, and here we are with another series wrap-up, where I throw all the figures I opted not to keep into a blender single wrap-up review.  So, let’s jump into another one of these!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Iron Man, Lady Bullseye, and the Fist Ninja are figures 1, 3, and 5, respectively, from the Mindless One Series of Marvel Legends.  There are the last three figures that contribute to the Mindless One Build-A-Figure, which is built by collecting parts from 6 of the 7 figures in the series.

IRON MAN

2022 saw the release of Marvel’s Midnight Suns, a tactical RPG which is *sort of* related to the Marvel comics “Midnight Sons” but only passingly so.  They share some of the same characters and a vaguely supernatural flair, so there’s that.  Since they wanted heavy hitters that the Midnight “Sons” line-up couldn’t provide, the game added some typically less supernatural characters who are nevertheless bigger names.  That included this dude, because you gotta have an Iron Man.  Despite being a kind of forced addition, Iron Man has turned around and also been most of the merchandising for the game (Ghost Rider got a limited release Pop!, but even then, Iron Man got 2 of those, so he still comes out ahead).  And Legends is just another piece in that arsenal.  The figure stands just over 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  He’s a largely parts re-use figure, making use of most of the first  Gamerverse Iron Man body.  It’s a kind of stiff body in terms of articulation; it felt out of date when it was new, and it’s only gotten more so in the years since.  The details also don’t quite match up with the game model, but they’re close enough to fudge it, I suppose.  He does at least get a new head, torso, and shoulder pads, courtesy of sculptor Dennis Chan, to move his design a little closer to the game look.  I generally like them more than the prior pieces, but it feels like there’s something off about the way the neck works, so his head sits up too high.  You can pose it to look a little better, but it remains somewhat awkward to work with.  His color work follows the game aesthetic, making him black and gold.  It’s similar to his Marvel Now! design from the comics, and doesn’t look terrible here.  It’s at least somewhat unique.  The application of the paint is pretty cleanly handled, and isn’t missing any major details, which is a plus.  Iron Man is packed with two sets of hands (in open and fists), as well as two blast effects in red, and the right leg of the Mindless One Build-A-Figure.

LADY BULLSEYE

Hey, you know Bullseye?  Well, make him a woman, and you’ve got Lady Bullseye.  Okay, it’s a touch more involved than that…but not as much as you might think.  Lady Bullseye was introduced during Ed Brubaker’s Daredevil run and hasn’t ever really had anything of note done with her; mostly, she just gets used to stand-in for Bullseye proper when he’s not around.  At the very least, she gets a pretty cool and unique design, rather than just being stuck with some derivation of Bullseye proper’s costume.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Lady Bullseye’s base is the same combination of existing body parts that Spinneret used.  It’s not a terrible set-up, since it’s got a good articulation scheme and fairly balanced proportions.  It’s only rather frustrating point is how many holes there are on the back of the torso, just from all of its prior uses.  The WCA Spider-Woman had used the Dagger torso to avoid this issue, and it honestly worked pretty well, so it’s a shame they aren’t doing that more.  Lady Bullseye gets a new head sculpt, which is a pretty nice piece.  It matches well with her usual comics depiction, and manages to give her an expression that doesn’t look totally devoid of emotion, which is always a plus, especially for female characters.  Her paint work does a pretty solid job of capturing her distinctive design, and doing it cleanly.  Lady Bullseye is actually pretty well accessorized, with two sets of hands (in fists and gripping), a katanna, two sais, and two fans, as well as the torso piece for the Mindless One Build-A-Figure.

FIST NINJA

The Hand was lacking in derivatives, apparently, so in addition to the ones we already have, we also got “The Fist.”  You know, it’s like a hand, but more violent!  Do you get it?  Do you?  It’s edgy, right?  All joking aside, the Fist may be a pretty tried concept, but they’re part of Chip Zdarksky’s recently wrapped up DD run, which I did actually enjoy.  Also, it ties in well with the King Daredevil figure from this same assortment, which is cool.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  As a derivative of the Hand, the Fist Ninja is, unsurprisingly, using most of the same parts as the standard Hand Ninja.  Honestly, apart from the visible pins, it’s a good set-up of pieces.  The Hand Ninja was a pretty fun figure and, by extension, so is the Fist Ninja.  He gets a new torso, which looks similar to the prior release, but upgrades the articulation scheme, and he also gets a new belt/loincloth piece, which gives him a new spot to stow his sword.  With his sculpt being largely the same, the figure relies on tow things to distinguish him, the first being colors.  He’s not drastically removed from the Hand Ninja, but there’s a fair bit of black accenting the Hand’s predominantly red palette.  I did find the general application of paint to also be sharper on this guy, especially on what we can see of the face. The only thing that slightly annoys me here is the red being ever so slightly different from King Daredevil’s shade.  Why does that annoy me?  I’ll get to that in a moment, when I discuss the other notable change-up from the Hand Ninja: the accessories.  He gets the same sword, as well as one of the two kama from the Hand Ninja, but they’re joined by two sets of hands (in fists and gripping, with the gripping being shared with DD), and an alternate skull head with its own removable hood.  Now, here’s the thing: I’m glad this guy gets the two sets of hands, and it’s cool that the gripping ones are even shared with King DD.  The trouble is that with the shades of red being slightly different between the two, you can’t also use the fists for King DD, which is kind of a bummer.  Ultimately, it’s not really this figure’s fault, though.  In addition to all of his own parts, he also includes the left arm and an extra hand for the Mindless One.

MINDLESS ONE

The Mindless Ones are perhaps one of the more ingenious creations of the early Doctor Strange stories, being a great pre-made army for just about any bad guy to make use of if they so chose.  Despite how tailored they seem to be to unending army building, they’ve never gotten any action figure coverage before this point, which is kind of crazy.  The figure stands just under 7 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  The Mindless One is sporting a brand-new sculpt, which is honestly a touch surprising for a character of this caliber, but certainly welcome.  The sculpt patterned on a more modern incarnation of the Mindless Ones, specifically seeming to be patterned on one of the illustrations from the Marvel: Avengers Alliance game, a frequent source of inspiration for Hasbro’s Legends over the years.  It’s a good sculpt, with plenty of texturing.  He’s big and stocky as well, and the articulation is surprisingly mobile given his size.  His color work is rather on the basic side, since he’s mostly just molded in a dark grey plastic.  He’s got a separate bright red piece for his “eye,” as well as some rather subtle brown accenting on the body.  The Mindless One gets two sets of hands in fists and open gesture, as well as a really cool energy effect piece that plugs into the eye (and is also patterned on the AA illustration).

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

This set was an interesting one for me, because I was honestly not very interested at first glance, but it kind of evolved.  My initial plan was to just get DD, Clea, and Power Man.  Then I decided I wanted to keep the Build-A-Figure.  Then, after getting the set in hand, I was invested in Blade enough to keep him as well.  Then I shot the photos, and divvied up the reviews and set up the schedule, and felt really confident about what I was keeping…and then I broke on the Fist Ninja too.  I know, I broke the format!  Ultimately, I like this set a lot more than I’d expected to.  The Mindless One is a ton of fun, as is Clea, and they’re both great debuts for the characters.  Blade and Luke are great versions of the characters, and DD is a solid, fun variant.  And, clearly the Fist Ninja was cool enough to push me to keep him.  Honestly, Lady Bullseye only got cut because I have no real attachment to the character.  Iron Man is the only one that I feel is truly a weak figure, and that’s really just because there’s so many Iron Men to choose from.

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

#3537: Orko

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

ORKO

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CLASSICS (MATTEL)

Fun FiQ Fact #0016:  Orko’s original name was “Gorpo,” but having a “G” on the front of his robe would have made it difficult for Filmation’s animators to easily flip his animation cels from shot to shot, so his name was changed.

I was very hot and cold with Masters of the Universe Classics.  I definitely fell into some of its hype (it was hard not to at the time, especially given how into DC Universe Classics I was), but it was also not a line that was particularly easy to get into without paying an arm and a leg.  Even within my usual rule of only certain characters it was tricky, just based on the weird ways things wound up released.  I did wind up getting *most* of the figures I really wanted, though, which included the goofy comic relief sidekick, Orko!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Orko was the 2010 San Diego Comic Con exclusive for the Masters of the Universe Classics line.  There were two versions: an attendee version, and an online version.  The one here is the online version, which was the more standardized of the two, as the attendee version had a heat-activated invisibility feature.  The figure stands just shy of 3 inches tall and he has 13 points of articulation.  This figure was a big deal at the time for being the first Orko properly scaled to the line he accompanied; the vintage figure was much too large, and the 200x was still a touch out of scale.  Also, while his articulation wasn’t top-notch or anything, he’s surprisingly mobile for an Orko, and even at this point, he’s only rivaled by the Origins figure.  This one got an all-new sculpt (a rarity for the line), which is clearly modeled on his Filmation incarnation.  It’s clean and well-rendered, and very certainly looks the part.  His color work was a mix of paint and molded.  The colors are a good match for his usual look, but the paint is notably a little on the sloppier side, especially when it comes to his ears.  Orko was packed with his staff and book, as well as the flight stand used by Triclops’ seers, allowing him to float.  Well, more fly; it’s honestly a little too tall, given Orko tended to float closer to the ground.  Still, as the one bit of re-use, it’s alright.  Orko also included one more, rather substantial accessory: a full Prince Adam figure.  Yep, despite being a full-scale Classics figure, Adam is treated as an accessory in every way, not getting proper billing on the package (though there’s a bubble that denotes his inclusion off to the side of Orko’s name), and even packaged laying down below the cardstock name tag for Orko.  If you don’t know he’s there, it’s possible to miss him.  Why exactly Mattel opted to do him this way is anyone’s guess, but they did some odd stuff at the time, so I’m not gonna try and delve into that myself.  Adam was built on the standard barbarian body (with the matching wrist bracers), so he stands about 7 inches tall and has 23 points of articulation.  He got a new head (with a real Mona Lisa smile situation going on for the expression), as well as a new vest piece.  He also got accessories of his own, in the form of both molds for the power sword (full and split) in the proper magenta color, and an alternate head borrowed from the standard He-Man.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t much care for Orko being an exclusive, and I didn’t have any luck getting him from Matty Collector directly either.  What *did* happen, however, is that I somehow managed to find a sealed one on eBay for a surprisingly low price.  I really only bought it for Orko, and him I do genuinely love.  Since I’m a 200x fan at heart, a classic Adam is something I could take or leave.  And, in fact, I took him and I left him…which is to say, I sold him when he was going for a rather insane aftermarket price, completely offsetting what I put into the set, because why not.  I got the pictures, though, so think of his presence in the review as being like that one last movie an actor filmed before they died, I guess.  Or maybe something less morbid?  I don’t know, do what makes you happiest.  I certainly did, which is why I just have the Orko and not the Prince Adam.

#3536: Mr Sinister

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

MR SINISTER

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

Fun FiQ Fact #0015: Creator Chris Claremont intended for Mr Sinister to be dark take on the “Shazam” concept, revealed to be the projection of Nate, a fellow orphan from Scott’s childhood.

Every so often here, my solid knowledge of toy-related things fails me. Okay, maybe not fails, but lapses. And then I say something definitively, and it’s totally not definitive because it’s actually wrong. Me? Wrong? Believe it or not, it happens. What’s even crazier is that in this instance, it’s about Toy Biz Marvel, which is especially in my wheelhouse. In my review of Mr. Sinister, I referred to him as the repaint, noting that the only difference between the two releases was that the “repaint” lacked the goatee of the original. Turns out I was lying like some kind of lying person. The one I reviewed was in fact the original release. This one? Repaint. Maybe not *the* repaint, but certainly *a* repaint.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mr Sinister was released in the 1993 Repaint Series of Toy Biz’s X-Men line…maybe. Here’s the thing about this guy: he’s got a somewhat confusing history. The prototype shots for the repaint series showed the figure seen here, but when the assortment hit retail, the Sinister that showed up was the same as the standard, but with his goatee added. About three years later, the figure that matched the prototype randomly started showing up mixed in with KB Toys’ close out stock of earlier assessments. Did they just, like, forget to pack the new one in and send him out later? Who knows? Certainly not me. I just review figures and get things wrong. The figure stands 5 inches tall and has 8 points of articulation. He’s using the same sculpt as the initial release, which, apart from its stiffness, is a pretty good sculpt.  The main change-up to the figure is the cape, which is now a totally red piece.  Beyond that, it’s minor changes, with the neckline becoming a v-neck, and the blue taking on more of an indigo hue than its original release.  His forehead diamond is also a little larger, and, on mine, there’s a red spot on his chin, which looks a little bit like his smaller soul patch look, even if it’s not supposed to.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Keeping track of all of the Sinister variations is definitely a bit tricky.  I got the first one, and since then I’ve been trying to get the other two variants, because I’m weird like that.  I was honestly not even expecting to get this one when I did; a collection came into All Time, and I just assumed the Sinister would be the one I already had, since it’s the most common by far.  But it wasn’t and now I’ve got 2 out of 3!  Noice!

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.

#3535: Clea

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

CLEA

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0014:  Despite how many figures her husband Stephen Strange has received over the years, this marks the very first action figure for Clea.

My comics reading is, at its core, very heavily influenced by my dad.  In part, that’s based on what he would buy me to read as a kid, which frequently included copies of some of his favorite stories from when he was growing up.  However, it’s also due to us effectively sharing a reading pile when I was growing up.  This resulted in some quirkier books that he was following becoming my first real introduction to certain characters.  In the early ’00s, Kurt Busiek had a run on Defenders, which eventually spun into The Order, where the “heavy hitter” Defenders went rogue, and it was up to the second stringers (namely Nighthawk, Hellcat, and Valkyrie) to stop them.  At one point, they assemble a team of distaff counterparts to Dr. Strange, Hulk, Namor, and Silver Surfer, which, amongst others features Clea as the counterpart to her husband.  It marked my first introduction to Clea, and it’s stuck with me since.  It sure has taken a long time for a figure of her to finally show up, but here we are.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Clea is figure 6 in the Mindless One Series of Marvel Legends.  She’s the final of the singles, and something of an outlier, being a more mystically-themed figure in a set of otherwise Marvel Knights and street-level heroes.  On the flipside, however, she’s the only one that’s got any real ties to the Mindless One Build-A-Figure, so she’s got that going for her.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  She’s making use of a decent little bank of re-used parts, largely centered around a slightly upgraded Phoenix base body.  She’s got a new head, upper torso, and sash piece, which add up to a solid approximation of Clea’s classic design.  All in all, a nice selection of new parts, though her hair on the head sculpt is perhaps a touch flat.  Still, overall not bad.  Clea’s color work is fun, because it’s a lot of purples, and you don’t see those shades quite as often.  The face get’s some very clean, very lifelike work, and the patterning on the legs is surprisingly well handled.  Clea is packed with two sets of hands and two of the swirly effect pieces in purple, as well as the right arm of the Mindless One Build-A-Figure.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I don’t know that I’d say Clea’s a character I had an undying need for or anything, but at the same time, it’s kind of surprising that she’s never gotten any sort of figure before.  So, in that regard, this figure is pretty cool, and she also turned out pretty nicely on top of that.  But mostly, she makes me want to put together a full line-up of the distaff counterparts from The Order.  What are the odds we might see a Ardina?  Probably really low, right?

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.

#3534: Pre Vizsla

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

PRE VIZSLA

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0013:  Despite sharing Jon Favreau as a voice actor and both being Mandalorians, Pre Vizsla and Paz Vizla are actually *not* directly related.

While I was certainly interested in Clone Wars during its first season, it wasn’t until the second season began the first mainstream delve into Mandalorian culture that I really got interested.  It helped that it was a pretty heavily Obi-Wan-led.  Central to the story was Jon Favreau’s *first* Star wars character, Pre Vizsla, who served as a notable antagonist.  I obviously snagged Pre’s first figure, during the show’s tie-in run, but I’ve been hoping to see him crop up in Black Series for a little while.  Hey, would you look at that?  He cropped up in Black Series.  Well, might as well review him.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Pre Vizsla is figure 17 in the running Clone Wars sub-set of Star Wars: The Black Series‘s Phase IV incarnation.  He’s part of the last assortment from last year, the lone Clone Wars figure in a largely Ahsoka driven set.  While the show tie-in Pre was based on his “Phase I” design, this one (and the VC figure that hit at almost the exact same time) is based on Pre’s later run design, which has previously not gotten toy coverage.  The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  Pre Vizsla is based on the modified Jango Fett body used by the two prior Clone Wars Mandos.  Given that both of them are supposed to be remainders of Pre’s men after Maul and Bo-Katan split them, it does make a degree of sense.  It’s a slightly clunky body, especially in terms of articulation, but something about the QC on this particular release does feel a little slicker than the prior two I’ve gotten.  He gets an new head, helmet, and belt piece, in order to suitably change him up for Pre.  The helmet is a solid recreation of his later design, and gives him a more unique shaping than the others, which I quite like.  The underlying head is okay; it’s not the best work, and winds up looking a little oddly shaped in profile, but from the front it looks pretty good.  I think it’s slightly thrown off by being on the slightly stockier base body, which contrasts with Pre’s rail-thin appearance in the show.  Pre’s color work makes use of a surprising amount of paint.  It’s all pretty cleanly applied, and the armored portions are particularly sleek looking.  The underlying head again gets the short end of the stick, with a particularly wonky hairline.  The work on the scar is pretty cool, though.  Pre is packed with his rocket pack, two blaster pistols, and the Dark Saber.  The rocket is a new piece, with a removable rocket and posable boosters, and it even has a loop on the back to hold the Dark Saber hilt, which is cool.  The Saber is the same mold included with Moff Gideon, but it’s been painted differently.  I think the white outline really works a lot better, and gives the whole thing a nice bit of pop.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I’m not gonna lie, I waffled a little on this guy after his announcement.  I wanted him all that time, and then I saw him, and I just wasn’t sure.  I think it was the re-used body.  But, I saw him in person, and I liked him enough to jump in.  I’m glad I did, because he actually wound up being a bit better than I’d expected.

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.

#3533: Luke Cage – Power Man

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

LUKE CAGE — POWER MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0012: Luke Cage’s first Marvel Legends release was in Toy Biz’s second-to-last series during their run on the line.

When I sat down to write today’s review, I thought to myself “should I maybe review the original Toy Biz Legends Luke Cage?”  And then I remembered that I *already* did, way back in the first year of the site.  Look, you write 3000 of these things, and you start to forget some things.  I looked back on that old review and saw that I was actually pretty brief on its “Me Half” segment.  I didn’t even mention where I got it.  The thing about that particular series was that it’s one of the ones that I actually wanted all of the figures from, and it’s also one where I didn’t want the Build-A-Figure at all.  They hit right around Christmas, so I actually got a good chunk of them as gifts.  Luke is one of two I didn’t get, but I used some of my Christmas money to buy him at Cosmic Comix, and I was actually pretty happy to get him at the time.  That figure held up better than some of the others from the set, but he’s still more than 15 years old, so you need some updates from time to time.  And I’m certainly not one to say no to a classic Luke Cage!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke Cage Power Man is figure 4 in the Mindless Ones Series of Marvel Legends.  He’s a pretty natural fit for the overall Marvel Knights theme of the set.  This is actually Luke’s first standard release Legends figure since the Toy Biz days, as well as his first proper update to the ’70s look.  The figure stands 6 3/4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  Luke’s sculpt is an all-new one, which is a pretty solid offering.  It’s clean and well defined, and definitely gets the outfit down.  The head’s a little bit bland in terms of expression; I don’t mind a Luke that’s slightly less angry than the first Legend, but this one feels like it dials things back maybe a touch too far.  Still, it’s hardly a bad sculpt.  The only other quirk to the sculpt is how the shirt works; the torso portion is a separate piece from his actual chest, which isn’t generally a bad look, but the holes for the arms are cut a little too large, revealing the chest beneath.  It’s looks a little awkward during certain posing.  Luke’s color work is a lot of molded colors, which works well to keep him clean looking.  He gets paint on his face, which is clean and lifelike.  Luke is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and open gesture, as well as the left leg to the Mindless One Build-A-Figure.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I’ve not gotten any Legends Luke Cages since the first one, because I just never found one that I liked in the mean time.  I’m not opposed to his more recent designs, but I guess I just hadn’t found the right toy version of any of those looks.  Whatever the case, I’m always going to have a soft spot for this look, so its announcement was definitely cool.  In hand, he’s not perfect, but still solid, which makes him a pretty spot-on successor to the original.  Now, I’d really love a ’70s Iron Fist to go with him.

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.

#3532: Mekaneck

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

MEKANECK

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CLASSICS (MATTEL)

Fun FiQ Fact #0011: Despite not being one of the franchise’s central characters, Mekaneck has been included in most incarnations of the Masters of the Universe toyline.

For reasons I’ve never been able to fully explain, Mekaneck has been my favorite part of Masters of the Universe since my very first interactions with the franchise. I got into things with the 200x re-launch, and even before that line’s Mekaneck got to retail, I had already tracked down a vintage figure, because I just really wanted the character that badly. For Masters of the Universe Classics, it was the potential inclusion of Mekaneck that finally got me interested in the line, after hemming and hawing on it for a couple of years. I just really like that long-necked guy, I’m pretty much every form. Even when that form requires braving Matty Collector on a day of sale…but it’s okay, because that’s way in the past now, and all I’ve got is the figure, which is far more pleasant a thing. Let’s check him out now!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mekaneck was released as part of the 2012 line-up for Masters of the Universe Classics, which ran during the line’s fourth year. He was the monthly figure for September of that year. Much like with the later Origins release, Mekaneck was the last 1984 character to join Classics. The figure stands 7 inches tall and he has 23 points of articulation. His sculpt was a lot of re-use. He has the line’s standard barbarian body, with the modified left arm for the symmetrical bracers set-up. Technically, that breaks from his vintage design, but animation tended to go for matching, and Mattel seems to want to reserve the larger bracer for He-Man proper most of the time. Since the Classics version of Stinkor was released before Mekaneck, this figure re-used the chest armor piece, albeit with the peg at the top of the plate glued in place this time, since Mekaneck had no alternate piece to swap out. The one new piece for this release was the head. It was a two piece assembly, with the helmet being separate. The helmet seems to sit a bit high, meaning the goggles don’t line up with where his eyes should be. It was brought up at the time that Mekaneck more than likely had some sort of cybernetic enhancements that make the lenses on the helmet something more than goggles, so they wouldn’t strictly *have* to line up with his actual eyes. It’s a reasonable explanation, but it doesn’t change the fact that literally every other Mekaneck figures has the goggles sitting where they should, and that Classics had a history of figures where molded parts weren’t fitted together properly during production. It was hardly the end of the world, but it was annoying. Mekaneck came from an era of the line where figures were almost entirely painted, allowing the main parts to be batch molded in black plastic. It caused issues for certain figures, but luckily Mekaneck wound up with a pretty good set-up. The only real issue is the lenses of the goggles, which are the same flat silver as the other accents on the helmet. The vintage figure hand mirrored lenses, and the 200x version had green ones. Either would have been nice, but the flat color makes it hard to distinguish any difference in the sculpted elements. Mekaneck was packed with his club, as well as two neck extensions of differing lengths. Technically, the necks can stack for one extra long neck, but the presence of a blue collar at both bases means that it looks a touch odd.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

Obviously, there was no way I was gonna miss this guy, so I had to deal with that fateful day-of sale on Matty Collector, which I honestly recall not being super stressful.  Yay, fun bonus!  After quite a wait for him, I recall being a little bit underwhelmed when he finally made it out.  I bounced back pretty quickly, since I was really just happy to have him, and having him as part of a larger collection of Mekanecks has taken some of the pressure off of him.  He’s not as strong as the later Origins release, and I don’t have the same nostalgia for him as the vintage or 200x releases, but he’s at least a reminder of my time with Classics, for better or for worse.

#3531: Jean Grey

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

JEAN GREY

X-MEN CLASSICS (TOY BIZ)

Fun FiQ Fact #0010: Jean Grey’s Jim Lee costume has received 11 action figures since its debut.

As a kid, my introduction to the X-Men was the animated series, which drove my desire for the whole cast of characters in action figure form.  The toyline running concurrently with the show was actually comics-based, but still generally managed to get a lot of looks that were close enough to work.  There were, however, some omissions, as well as some…odd ways of doing figures.  Despite being a main character on the show, Jean’s only figure in the line proper for most of its run was a single Phoenix figure, which wasn’t her main get-up on the series.  That look got some action figure love, sure, but Toy Biz’s takes always felt a bit monkey’s paw-like; you’d get her, but at some sort of trade off.  My search for a good one ran for a good number of years.  The closest I got was in 2000, and it was a figure that I was honestly pretty thrilled to get, even though she’s maybe not the most thrilling figure at the end of it all.  Still, here she is!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Jean Grey is part of Toy Biz’s X-Men Classics line, which they launched in 2000 to run some old molds in new packaging between the toys for X-Men: The Movie and X-Men: Evolution.  While most of the figures were minor tweaks to existing releases, the Battle Blasters figures all got more substantial tweaks, in order to make them less Age of Apocalypse-inspired and more standard.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and has 5 points of articulation.  Her mold is almost identical to the original “Secret Weapon Force” release, which was just the Jean mold that Toy Biz had on hand at the time, I guess.  It does at the very least fill in the etched lines for the boots and gloves from the mold’s original use as Mystique.  For all of the re-uses the body saw during Toy Biz’s run, I do believe this is the only time they got rid of those.  It definitely helps with the overall look.  The mold’s not bad; the body is basic, and the head, while definitely more dialed into the AoA version of the character, isn’t horrible.  The main change-up, obviously, is the paint, which now puts her in her Jim Lee costume…or at least something close to it.  There are some sculpted details that don’t line up; the hair’s too short, and she lacks the shoulder pads and leg pouches.  That’s kind of expected, and it’s certainly closer than the other repaint they did for this costume.  The only thing that really stands out to me as “off” is the hands being yellow, but even that was a back and forth thing, with it only more recently being decided that she didn’t wear gloves with the costume.  This Jean release got the exact same accessory as her original “Secret Weapon” release: the Catapult Tank Blaster.  It’s a big green and black thing, and it’s hella goofy.  But, hey, at least I got two of them, right?

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I vividly recall finding this figure in a Toys R Us, early December, still in post-X-Men: The Movie bliss, and being absolutely thrilled.  Then less so, because it was early December, which was typically a time of no toy purchases, what with the inevitable onslaught of figures I’d be getting as Christmas gifts.  My parents, however, recognized the significance of the figure, and allowed me to break their usual rule, so that I could finally have the Jean Grey I’d been waiting so long for.  She’s not much to write home about; she’s just the Secret Weapon Force Jean with a new deco, and that one wasn’t anything special either.  But, I was always very happy with her, and she’s still pretty nifty, even if there are better Jim Lee style Jeans these days.