#3131: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL LEGENDS (TOY BIZ)

I gave today’s intro a fair bit of thought.  Usually, I like to keep things fairly light and apolitical here on the site, what with it being about toys and all, but I would be lying if I said that wasn’t becoming a harder thing to do these days.  My aim isn’t to offend, or hurt, or throw mud, or anything like that, but even from an apolitical stand-point, there wind up being some lines that get crossed, and it gets pretty hard not to say anything about it.  So, I’m gonna keep being me, and I’m gonna say what I say, and continue to just try to be my best self.  Today is July 4th, a day that’s typically dedicated to celebrating all the great things about America.  For me, on the site at least, that means I get to review another Captain America figure, because that’s how I roll.  This year, things are very much muddied by current events, leaving a lot of people not feeling quite so hot about America, and perhaps a little less proud to be part of this whole venture.  I can definitely feel that, and I think we’ve all got some work we can do to get to a better place together.  I think we can all work towards being our own best selves.  And if you think my best self isn’t going to take the opportunity, in a time of uncertainty, fear, and worry, to review a figure of Steve Rogers, a symbol of hope for all the things that America should be to all the people that call it home, then you’re definitely not one of my regular readers.  When you need some inspiration, a Captain America’s not a bad place to start, right?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America was released as part of Toy Biz’s “Face Off” spin-off of Marvel Legends, which gave us new versions of the core heroes, facing off against their antagonists.  For his part, Cap was packed alongside Red Skull.  There was also a variant unmasked Cap, which was instead packed with Baron Strucker.  Look, he’s fighting a Nazi either way, right?  This was Toy Biz’s fourth and final version of Cap in their run with Legends, following the original Series 1, the Ultimate, and its more classically-inspired variant.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 46 points of articulation.  That hefty articulation count is aided by the addition of separately articulated fingers, something Toy Biz was giving a try later in their run.  They wound up as one of the very first things cut by Hasbro, and, honestly, it’s not a huge shock.  They’re really not much more than a novelty, and they mean he can’t really grip or anything.  It’s the sort of thing that alternate hands are just a far more efficient way of doing finger poses.  Other than that, the articulation is pretty decent from a range of motion standpoint, though perhaps not so much from the appearance angle.  They definitely aren’t super worked into the sculpt’s aesthetics.  Said sculpt was a mix of old and new.  He used the Ultimate Cap as a starting point, with the addition of a more classically-based set of gloves and boots, as well as slightly tweaked versions of the upper torso and head.  This whole sculpt wound up getting up-scaled for Toy Biz’s Marvel Legends Icons line, and it was honestly pretty good for the time.  It’s perhaps not aged quite so well, what with its wonky proportions and the slightly odd shaping of the face.  That said, the texture work, especially on the scaling, is really amazing work, and if nothing else, he’s certainly got a nice style to him.  At the time of release, he was probably one of Toy Biz’s best.  Cap’s paint work is decent enough.  Toy Biz was still tending to go pretty muddy with the colors at this point, but this guy actually gets a fairly bold and clean color scheme.  It works pretty well for the character, and, again, it’s really some of the line’s best work.  Cap is packed with his shield, which is the same as his Series 1 counterpart’s, complete with the cloth straps for placing over his shoulders.  This time, it’s better painted, and I particularly like the black interior; it definitely adds a lot more pop.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Back when this figure was released, I decided to stick with my Series 1 version, rather than trying to upgrade.  Given how difficult it was to get these packs, or really Legends in general, it wasn’t hard to justify.  I always kind of wanted one, but I never got the chance to grab him over the years.  Fortunately for me, he came into to All Time a couple of months ago.  He’s certainly a figure that shows his age, but I still really enjoy him for what he is.

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

Matty’s Corner #0001: Space Ranger Alpha Buzz Lightyear & Jr Zap Patrol Mo Morrison

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Matty's Corner and tagged with , , , ,

SPACE RANGER ALPA BUZZ LIGHTYEAR & JR ZAP PATROL MO MORRISON

LIGHTYEAR (MATTEL)

Hi, Ethan here!  Welcome to Matthew’s Corner, where I’m collecting the mad ramblings of my 6 year old Matthew, who also likes to talk about action figures.  What can I say, I’m sympathetic to his need to ramble about action figures.  So, I’m just gonna let him take it away…though, for what it’s worth, I’m still transcribing for him.

Hello.  It’s Matthew again!  Just a reminder: this is not my website.  This is Ethan’s website.  My dad owns this website.  I don’t know what to say now.  Chonkuta kun chot.  [At this point he broke down into mad laughter–Ethan].  I love the Buzz Lightyear movie.  Whoa.  I can always engage with my mouse protocol.  Lifeforms detected.  Meow Meow Meow Meow. [He’s just quoting his talking Sox toy at this point]  Sorry, I’m back to normal.  I was just doing something that the movie said.  I have a stuffed animal.  His name is Sox.  If you see Lightyear, you would see Sox.  He’s a cat.  But I want to talk about the action figures.  I have Buzz Lightyear and Mo!  If you know who they are, then you may have watched the movie.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

I’m gonna talk everything about Mo.  Mo is the guy with a blue hat.  He is a weird guy and he thinks sandwiches go “Meat, bread, meat.”  Mo has 20 joints of articulation total.  I like Mo a little bit.  I like that the figure actually comes with the hat.  I usually put it on him often in most of the poses I do.  I like the paint, I like the sculpt, I like the pieces.  I don’t like how his face looks.  It just looks weird.  He feels good.  Moving on!

To Buzz Lightyear!  Woo! Woo! Woo!  My figure can glow in the dark.  He’s a really cool figure.  He has 20 total joints of articulation.  I like Buzz Lightyear.  I like the figure.  It feels good.  I like the paint.  I like the sculpting.  He comes with a gun and his hat.  And he likes Mo.  They are best friends.  I like that they made the action figure smile.  It’s really cool that he’s looking like he’s happy.

THE MATTHEW HALF OF THE EQUATION

My best friend Ethan got my figures for me.  He’s my best buddy ever.  He picked these two out for me.  The characters I liked almost the best in the movie.  I like Sox the best of all, but they didn’t have Sox at the store.  I got the figures from Target.  I like the figures overall.  There are more.  Maybe I can review them next time.  I don’t know.  Please don’t be shy.  Look at this website.  Talk back.  Do everything you can to see the website.  Good bye!  Have a good day!

#3130: Korg

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

KORG

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“A Kronan warrior on the planet Sakaar, Korg is forced to compete in the Contest of Champions.  When he meets fellow warrior Thor, he allies with the Asgardian to escape Sakaar and defeat Hela.”

Remember on Tuesday, when I was discussing Ragnarok‘s new characters, who were of varying importance and seriousness?  Well, hey, here’s Korg.  Not super important, I suppose, but certainly a good time, thanks to director Taika Waititi’s delightfully charming performance as the character.  He returned as the character for Endgame, and is now coming back once more for Ragnarok‘s sequel, Love and Thunder, which looks to be giving him an enhanced role.  I for one am very much in favor of this, as I absolutely love Korg.  And now I’ve got another Korg action figure.  Let’s see if I love that too.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Korg is the titular Build-A-Figure for the Korg Series of Marvel Legends.  It marks his second time as a Legend, following the Ragnarok version from the two-pack.  This one is based on his upgraded attire from the new movie.  It’s a little more personalized, since he’s not a gladiator anymore.  There’s some fur, and a bit more color to it, making it a little more visually interesting.  The figure stands just shy of 8 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  Korg is built using a number of shared parts from the previous version of Korg.  It’s sensible, what with him being the same character, and the first version being a pretty solid piece of work and all.  This one keeps most of the arms and torso, as well as the feel, with a new set of legs, overlay for the torso, and head.  Generally, it’s a pretty nice selection of new parts, matching well to the quality of the original parts.  The head’s not super different, just with a slightly different expression.  This one’s a little more serious, though still not too serious, because, you know, it’s Korg.  The new legs notably give him actual pants.  That’s a nice improvement for him, I guess.  What’s not so much of an improvement is the hip movement.  He can’t actually get his legs to sit straight down for a standard standing pose; he’s always got to be low-key spreading his legs.  The figure’s color work is fairly decent.  The design allows for a brighter, more eye-catching look than the last one.  The application of the paint is pretty clean, though there’s not a ton going on in the way of accenting, much like with the rest of the assortment.  On the one hand, it’s a bit of a bummer, but on the other, it means there’s not a lot of mismatched shading, as can happen on some Build-A-Figures.  Korg is packed with his mace-thing, which appears to be the same piece as included with the last one, just with a slightly different paint scheme.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I really like Korg, and I really liked the last Korg figure, so I wasn’t certain I needed this figure.  That said, I did like the new design for the character, and I was at least somewhat interested in most of the figures needed to build him.  I was able to snag the part that came with Star-Lord on its own, meaning I had less figures I needed to buy, and making the whole thing just a bit easier.  While there are some slight issues with this figure, I do really like the end result, and he’s another fun Korg figure.

This is a more focused set than previous movie sets, to be sure.  I’m glad that Hasbro’s finally splitting movie and comic into their own things, as I think it allows them to cover more of the core movie stuff without dipping into exclusives and multipacks, which are usually pretty frustrating.  That said, for me personally, I’m hitting a point where I don’t feel as pressed to buy every single new MCU figure any more, given how many versions I have of some of these characters.  This one was an interesting experiment for me.  I think Korg remains my favorite, as I expected.  The two Thors I picked up are both fun, if maybe not much beyond what I was expecting.  Valkyrie and Groot are both figures that exceeded my expectations, and have become my favorite versions of the characters, so that’s pretty cool.  And Gorr…well, he’s just sort of there.  Again, hard to judge without seeing the movie.  With the projected price jumps, this one does feel a bit like a last hurrah for this type of assortment, but we’ll see how things progress.

#3219: Groot

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

GROOT

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“I AM GROOT!”

At the end of Endgame, Thor continued his journey by venturing out with the Guardians of the Galaxy.  Rather unsurprisingly, the Guardians are playing at least some sort of supporting role in Love and Thunder.  From the trailers, it appears the whole team will be along for the ride, but with their third film on the horizon, it doesn’t make quite so much sense to fill an entire Thor line-up with Guardians.  So, Hasbro picked some favorites, including everyone’s favorite walking tree with limited vocabulistics, Groot!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Groot is figure 6 in the Korg Series of Marvel Legends.  Between him and yesterday’s Ravager Thor, there’s also a new Star-Lord, but I opted to skip that one, on the basis that I’ve got a bunch of Star-Lords.  This figure is based on Groot’s “Teen” look.  It’s been given the Legends treatment once before via the Infinity War tie-ins, via the (supposed to be) TRU-exclusive three-pack with Thor and Rocket.  That one had gotten pretty pricey on the aftermarket, and with it looking to be more or less the standard version of the character going forward, it’s a sensible choice for a re-do.  The figure stands 5 1/2 inches tall and he has 25 points of articulation.  He’s using the body from the prior Teen Groot.  It’s not 100% ideal, mostly due to how the arm articulation works, but it could be worse.  Generally, it’s a nice sculpt.  I was never super sold on the head sculpt to the old one, and, hey, would you look at that, it’s the one thing they changed.  The new head is a lot more sharply detailed, and just generally looks like a better match for the animation model from the films.  That chin is much less pronounced, and the leaves and such at the top are much more leaf-like.  The figure’s color work is also a slight improvement.  He’s more in line with the adult Groots from the first movie, being molded in a slightly lighter brown, and with a fainter green detailing.  I think it works a lot better than the prior version.  Groot also gets a slightly better accessory selection, by virtue of not being stuck in a pack with two other figures.  He gets two standard hands, an extra right hand with a trigger finger, two branch-looking effect hands, a blaster rifle, and the torso to the Korg Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was a bit lukewarm on the first Teen Groot.  Being stuck in a big, expensive boxed set, he just didn’t feel worth the price, and I always had some issues with the actual sculpt, especially the head.  I wasn’t initially sure about this release, as I’d expected it would be a pretty straight re-release.  But, I wanted Korg, and the new hands looked fun, so I grabbed him.  While he’s not drastically different, the new head does a lot for the figure, and I’m ultimately much happier with him than I’d expected to be.  This definitely feels like the definitive Teen Groot.  So, they’ll clearly be changing his design entirely for Vol 3, right?

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

#3218: Ravager Thor

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

RAVAGER THOR

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Thor wields the mighty Stormbreaker against a terrifying new foe.”

I’m already three figures into this look into the tie-in Legends for Thor: Love and Thunder, and I haven’t yet actually looked at the Odinson himself.  That seems pretty crazy.  There are two of them present in this assortment, and I’m opting to look at the slightly more unique of the pair.  This one, dubbed “Ravager Thor,” no doubt due to its ties to his time with the Guardians of the Galaxy, was the central piece of our first teaser image from the film, so its presence in this assortment isn’t all that much of a surprise.  So, let’s look at how that turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ravager Thor is figure 4 in the Korg Series of Marvel Legends.  As noted above, he’s one of two Odinson Thors in this line-up.  The other is a more traditionally armored take on the character, but it’s got no Build-A-Figure part, so I’m not in a huge rush to pick it up.  This Thor is clearly in his post-workout attire, after he’s gotten back in shape following the events of Endgame.  It’s based loosely on Thunderstrike’s design from the comics, which is a nice touch, and is also a nice sort of half-step between his The Dude-inspired look as Bro Thor and his more classic warrior Thor.  The figure stands about 6 3/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  This Thor follows in the footsteps of the Endgame Thor, being closer to actual scale, rather than the exaggerated sizing of prior MCU Thors.  The figure’s sculpt is all-new, and it’s honestly a pretty respectable one.  The head in particular sports probably the best likeness we’ve gotten yet for Hemsworth.  That face just really clicks in a way that previous takes haven’t.  Given how many tries Hasbro’s given it, that’s definitely saying something.  The body sculpt has Hemsworth’s more heroic proportions from the film, as well as a ton of texture work on the outfit.  The vest is a separate, removable piece.  The left arm on my figure comes out, which makes taking the vest off a lot easier, though I don’t know if that’s on purpose.  The color work on this guy appears to be pretty spot on to the film design.  The paint on the face is suitably life-like, and the hair gets some nice accenting, giving it that slightly dirtier look.  He also gets the full detailing on his t-shirt design, which is pretty fun.  Thor is packed with Stormbreaker, as well as the arm to the Korg Build-A-Figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Mostly, I bought this guy for the Korg piece.  That said, I also did quite dig this look from its initial appearance in the teaser photo.  I like how it works with the general Flash Gordon-y vibe of the first film (and, I assume, this one, too).  This figure is honestly pretty fun, and he’s a neat progression from the Bro Thor figure.

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

#3127: King Valkyrie

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews

KING VALKYRIE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“When a dangerous new visitor threatens the livelihood of New Asgard, King Valkyrie is forced to take up her sword once more to defend her people.”

After dispensing with a lot of the title character’s supporting cast, Thor Ragnarok filled in the missing roles with a handful of new players, of varying importance and seriousness.  On the slightly more serious side, as well as the slightly more important to the overall mythos side, was Valkyrie, a supporting player not only in Thor’s side of things in the comics, but also in the larger Marvel Universe.  Though she really only got a glorified cameo in Endgame, the character was still given a solid jump-start for her next adventure, being handed the official title of leader of the Asgardians, which appears to come with the honorific “King” no matter who it’s being handed to.  I can dig it.  With this new title, Valkyrie is poised for a rather important role in Ragnarok‘s follow-up Love and Thunder, and gets a new figure to accompany that role.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

King Valkyrie is figure 3 in the Korg Series of Marvel Legends.  This marks our fifth Valkyrie as a Legend, and the third time it’s been specifically the Tessa Thompson version of the character.  For the new movie, Valkyrie’s attire appears to be sort of an averaging of her two prior designs, making it thus far the closest adaptation of her classic comics design.  I can dig that.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and she has 31 points of articulation.   Her articulation scheme is on par with Jane Thor’s, which makes it a noted improvement on the two prior versions of the character.  She not only gets double elbows this time around, but she’s also using the pinless construction for both them and the knees, making her a much cleaner looking figure.  Her sculpt is an all-new one, and a pretty good one at that.  The head continues the trend of each version of the Tessa Thompson likeness being a stretch better than the last.  I really thought the Endgame one was pretty solid, but this ends up being even closer.  I feel like the expression helps a bit more here.  Her look of self-satisfaction is really selling it.  The rest of the sculpt does a solid job of capturing the costume, at least from what we’ve seen of it.  The cape is largely flat, but there’s a bit of flow at the base, which works surprisingly well.  The figure’s color work is bold and fairly bright, which I quite like, especially compared to the other versions of the character.  The face printing works very well, and really aids with the likeness.  King Valkyrie is packed with her sword, as well as the head and club for Korg.  It’s a bit on the light side, but it seems like this whole wave got hit with that in order to keep a heavier price jump at bay.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As with my review of the Endgame Valkyrie, I went into this one not feeling like I *needed* another version of the character.  That said, I liked the new look, and wanted to at least give the figure a try.  She’s even better than the last one, which I felt was already a surprising improvement.  This one’s really just a lot of fun.  I look forward to seeing what she gets up to in the movie.

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

 

#3126: Gorr

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

GORR

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Wielding a powerful and terrifying weapon, Gorr will let nothing stand in his way.”

With Loki, the Frost Giants, Malekith, Hela, The Executioner, and Surtur off the table (and the Enchantress effectively adapted into Sylvie in Loki), the Thor franchise had to move to more recent additions for an antagonist in Love and Thunder.  Enter Gorr the God Butcher.  Introduced during Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic’s Marvel Now!-era run on the book, Gorr has no ties to pre-existing mythology, and was a new creation in wholesale.  He doesn’t exactly have a ton of comics appearances, but he played a role in the run that led up to Jane Foster becoming Thor, so including him in this particular story isn’t the craziest idea.  For the film, he’s played by former Batman actor Christian Bale, making him the second live-action Batman to join the MCU as a villain.  Bet George Clooney and Val Kilmer are feeling real skipped over right about now.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Gorr is figure 2 in the Korg Series of Marvel Legends, which is entirely based on Love and Thunder.  This is Gorr’s debut in action figure form, making him the one truly new figure in the bunch, although it was also the first time we’d gotten an MCU Jane.  But this is our first Gorr regardless of universe.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  Gorr’s articulation scheme is slightly more modernized, matching up with robed characters from other lines.  Obviously, he’s restricted on the legs, due to the skirt, but otherwise mobility’s pretty solid on the range front, and he’s also got the pinless joint construction on the elbows and knees.  Gorr’s sculpt is all-new.  It’s not a bad piece.  For the movie-verse, Gorr’s design is slightly less inhuman than his comics-counterpart, largely to keep Christian Bale’s face clearer for the purposes of emoting.  It makes for a slightly less distinctive design, but I’m sure it’ll work better within the movie proper.  The sculpt does a respectable job of capturing the design, at least based on what we’ve seen so far.  The face has a rather spot-on likeness of Bale, and the texture work on the outfit is rather impressive.  I don’t much care for how floaty the cape is, but other than that, the sculpt works well.  Gorr’s paintwork is rather on the drab side, seeing as he’s really just a lot of off-white.  It’s largely molded, but he gets a little bit of accenting on the exposed skin, as well as getting some pretty in depth printing for the face.  Gorr is packed with a black sword, which is presumably All-Black the Necrosword, Gorr’s weapon in the comics.  He also includes the left leg for Korg.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I know nothing of Gorr, at least from personal experience, so I’m pretty much banking off of a hope that I’ll like the character’s appearance in the movie.  Also, I wanted Korg.  So, there was that.  I honestly picked him up for that.  It’s not a bad figure, though.  Design’s a touch on the bland side, but the likeness is really good, and he’s pretty posable, especially on the upper half.

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

#3125: Mighty Thor

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

MIGHTY THOR

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Jane Foster’s life is forever changed when she mysteriously comes to possess the hammer Mjolnir…and the power of the Mighty Thor!”

In two weeks time, Thor: Love and Thunder, the fourth installment in the MCU’s Thor franchise, hits theatres.  One of the film’s earliest selling points was the return of Natalie Portman in the role of Jane Foster, as well as the confirmation that the film would be adapting her time in the role of Thor from the comics.  The MCU hasn’t really touched on the whole concept of other people taking on the mantle of Thor the way the comics had by the point Jane took over, so it’ll be interesting how exactly they handle it on screen.  It’s not like it’s a terribly confusing concept, though, and with Taika Waititi at the helm, I’m sure there will be some humorous quipping about the exact ins and outs of it in the final film.  Whatever the case, there are toys, and where there are toys, there is me, reviewing the toys.  Well, some of the time.  I mean, I don’t buy *everything*.  But I did buy this, so I’m gonna review it!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mighty Thor is figure 1 in the Korg Series of Marvel Legends, which serves as the tie-in assortment for Love and Thunder.  It’s an assortment entirely based on the movie, which seems to have become the norm after years of mixing MCU and comics stuff.  Jane is seen here in what I can only assume will be her main attire from the film.  It’s a pretty solid recreation of the design she sported in the comics, with the necessary adjustments for it being on a real person and all, as well as tying her in a little more closely with the prior cinematic Thor designs. The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and she has 30 points of articulation.  As with most recent releases, she has the pinless joint construction on her elbows and knees, allowing for a generally sleeker design.  Jane Thor’s sculpt is an all-new offering.  It appears to be a pretty accurate rendition of the movie design, going by what we’ve seen so far.  The detailing is generally pretty sharp, though there are a few soft spots on a couple of the armored parts.  I quite like how the cape has turned out.  There’s a really convincing drape to it, especially given it’s heavier rubber construction.  Jane Thor includes two different heads; one with helmet, and one without.  The helmeted look feels just a touch goony looking; it’s something about how the eyes and mouth work within the context of the whole assembly.  It’s not too terrible, though.  The unmasked head is sporting a respectable likeness of Natalie Portman, certainly on par with the Padme from a few years ago at the very least.  Jane Thor’s color work is at best described as the bare minimum.  Well, okay, it probably goes a little bit beyond that, to her credit.  There aren’t any obviously missing details, but there’s also very little in the way of accenting.  It’s especially notable on the silver section, where some of the sculpted detailing winds up a little lost.  That said, the application is all rather clean, and the face printing makes her look sufficiently lifelike, as per usual.  Jane Thor includes Mjolnir and the right leg of the Korg Build-A-Figure.  Mjolnir is an all-new sculpt, showcasing its reassembled nature in the film.  Interestingly, it’s a larger size than the ones we’ve gotten with standard Thor (and Cap for that matter), making it our third different scaling for Mjolnir within the line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I myself only had a somewhat passing familiarity with Jane’s time as Thor in the comics, but Jess was a huge fan, and collected the whole run, up through its end.  I know she would have been thrilled about it getting adapted, so that’s kind of translated to me being excited about it too.  I’m hoping that actually giving Natalie Portman a little bit more to do in the role might make her a slightly more compelling character.  The figure’s at least a promising start.  While I’d have liked to see them be a little more in depth with some of the paint, she’s otherwise a pretty solid release, and thus far looks to be the star of the assortment, at least as far as the general public is concerned.

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

#3124: Jubilee

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

JUBILEE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Jubilation Lee is the newest member of the X-Men, able to project plasma “fireworks” from her hands with explosive results!”

Remember how I was talking about how Hasbro’s doing a line of X-Men: The Animated Series-inspired figures?  It was just yesterday, so it should be fairly fresh in the memory, I hope.  Well, they opted to launch the line with not one, but two figures.  Since they were doing Wolverine, they opted to kick off things with a figure that paired off with him, namely his effective sidekick for the show’s run, Jubilee!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Jubilee is the second figure in Hasbro’s X-Men: The Animated Series sub-line of Marvel Legends.  She’s only the third Jubilee under the Marvel Legends branding, with all three of them being during Hasbro’s tenure.  Like Wolverine, she ships in a VHS-inspired package, which helps to really sell the animation-inspiration of these figures.  The figure stands 5 3/4 inches tall and she has 32 points of articulation.  Jubilee is largely based on the same selection of parts as the last Jubilee release.  It makes sense, seeing as they’re meant to be adapting two rather similar designs.  That’s generally not the worst.  It’s a solid enough body sculpt.  While Wolverine got a few new parts to make him more animation-accurate, Jubilee doesn’t get any new parts at all.  She does swap out the boots for the standard Spider-Girl lower legs, and rather than getting the two heads from the ’90s Jubilee figure, she gets one of them, as well as the head from the Build-A-Figure.  I still don’t really care for the standard head so much; it just doesn’t really feel accurate to the character.  The other head works a little better, but she looks a touch too old for the cartoon version.  It’s a shame she couldn’t get a new head like Wolverine did.  Jubilee’s paint work isn’t terribly different from the prior figure, but with the adjustments for the cel-shading.  It works pretty well, and much like Wolverine, it isn’t as limiting as I thought it might be.  The new paint has refreshed the head sculpts a fair bit, at the very least, so that’s a plus.  Jubilee is packed with the two heads, plus the removable sunglasses for the one (in both opaque and transparent), and a pair of pink effects pieces.  It’s not a ton, but it’s an okay selection, and better than the last release.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was rather let down by the last Jubilee.  She wasn’t terrible, but there was a lot riding on her, and she just didn’t quite deliver.  I guess the follow-up doesn’t have quite as much riding on it, but I was still hoping for something a bit better.  She’s not perfect, and she’s not quite the slam dunk that Wolverine was, but she’s at least better than the last one, and that’s a plus for me.  It’s also just nice that there’s another Jubilee out there.

#3123: Wolverine

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

WOLVERINE

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“His adamantium claws slash through steel. His mutant healing ability mends even the worst wounds. He’s Wolverine, the best at what he does – and what he does best is fight evil Mutants!”

Did you know that the scientific name for wolverine means “glutton”? That’s your fun FiQ fact for this tiger-stripe Wolverine review!

The 1990s X-Men cartoon never got a direct tie-in line of toys at the time of its release, instead making do with a comic-based line with similar enough figures to pass.  In the almost thirty years since, we’ve still not gotten any direct tie-ins, but, hey, times change.  Mondo had initially dipped a toe in the waters with a 1/6 Wolverine, but before that one made its way to market, Hasbro jumped straight on in with a whole line of 6-inch figures with a more direct basis.  Kicking things off is the character that’s unquestionably the center of the cartoon, and the basis of the fun FiQ fact, Wolverine!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wolverine is the first figure in Hasbro’s X-Men: The Animated Series sub-line of Marvel Legends.  While there have been figures based on the same basic designs in the past, these figures are more directly patterned on the animation models from the show.  To further highlight this fact, the figure is even packaged in a box that is made to look like a VHS tape, much like the ones put out for the show back in the ’90s.  It’s honestly a pretty nifty set-up, and a rather clever way of getting into the plastic-free packaging for the line.  I open everything anyway, but I’m actually going to keep these ones, because I like them that much.  The figure stands just under 6 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  Largely, this figure makes use of the line’s standard Tiger Stripe Wolverine figure’s sculpt, which certainly makes a lot of sense.  In order to keep him more animation styled, he gets two new heads, a slightly tweaked set of shoulder pads, and new hands.  The two new heads are both solid recreations of the slightly wider design of the cartoon mask, and the two heads give him the option of calm and angry expressions.  I really dig the option, as well as the new look.  I was always a bit iffy on the prior Tiger Stripe Wolverine head, so I see this one as quite an improvement.  The shoulder pads are about the same, just slightly thinner.  The new hands get fancy new claws, which are a bit larger and more shaped than prior versions.  They were a little warped out of the package, but otherwise I really like them.  Wolverine’s paint work is laid out to replicate the cel-shading of the cartoon, something that it does surprisingly well.  I was a little worried that it was gonna look odd from certain angles, but it’s more versatile than I’d expected.  Wolverine is packed with a spare set of gripping hands without the claws, as well as a picture frame with a picture of Scott and Jean in it, as seen in the show, and also a metric ton of memes.  The picture is even removable from the frame, so you can swap in your own photos, for further meme-ing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

X-Men: The Animated Series was incredibly formative for me as a kid, and has remained one of my favorites from my youth.  I was very tempted by the Mondo figure when it was shown off, but I wasn’t sure about dropping that kind of money.  These ones are much more my speed.  I have plenty of Wolverines, but this one does enough different to make him feel really worthwhile.  Thus far, I’m in for at least all the team members from this line, if not a few others as they crop up.