Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0040: Luke Skywalker – Dagobah

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , ,

LUKE SKYWALKER — DAGOBAH

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

We are officially taking the Flashback Friday Figure Addendums back to Star Wars!  Oh yeah!  Let’s jump back to some of the earliest Star Wars coverage here on the site, and indeed the very earliest Star Wars in my entire collection, with Dagobah Luke!

So, today’s review is actually pretty nifty. I’ve looked at the most recent round of Star Wars toys with The Black Series, and I’ve also taken a look at one of the vintage figures from the original line, but I’ve never really looked at any of the figures released in between.

Star Wars is looked at as one of the permanent fixtures of the action figure aisle nowadays, but that wasn’t always the case. Following Return of the Jedi, the line shifted to Power of the Force for a little while, but that line only ran until 1985, at which point Star Wars toys effectively ended. Ten years later, Kenner relaunched the line under the branding Power of the Force II. In 1995, I was 3 and just getting into action figures. So, POTF II came at just the perfect time and provided me with my very first Star Wars figure, which I’ll be looking at in this review.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke was released as part of the 1996 assortment of Power of The Force II. He’s based on Luke’s look while he’s training on Dagobah in Empire Strikes Back. The figure stands about 3 ¾ inches tall, and features 6 points of articulation. That waist articulation was revolutionary, let me tell you. The sculpts for POTF II, in general, have not aged well. For some reason, everybody got really buff. Luke follows that trend, and looks more like Arnold Schwarzenegger than Mark Hamill. From a purely aesthetic stand point, it’s actually not a bad sculpt. There’s some nice texture on his clothing, and the proportions are about right, even if they don’t belong to Mark Hamill. One negative point: the feet are sculpted at a bit of an angle, which can make getting him to stand up a chore. The paint is actually very good for the time. There’s no bleed over or slop and the smaller details are all clean and sharp, and the shading on the shirt to show it’s wet and stained gives the figure a nice level of depth rarely seen on figures of this era. Luke was packed with a lightsaber and a blaster.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The trip on which I acquired this figure is actually one of my earlier memories of going to the store and buying something. I don’t remember what store it was (for some reason my gut says Target, but that doesn’t seem right). What I very vividly remember was being walked over to the toy aisle by my parents, seeing the display of figures and running to them. I saw Luke hanging there and immediately grabbed him. In particular, I remember my mind being completely blown by the idea that he actually included a lightsaber. I guess I just assumed that would have to be a separate purchase. I had yet to pick up on how action figures worked, I guess. Regardless, I was thrilled to have this figure. As the years have gone by, the figure has started to show its age, but I still feel pretty damned nostalgic for him. All in all, he’s not a bad figure, and the sentimental value pushes him up to 11.

Well, I can generally stand by this review pretty well, I feel.  Nicely formed, and generally on point.  Covers all the bases.  Kind of funny.  Good hook at the end. Go me.  A few notes to follow up on, though.  I addressed the angle of the feet, which mean he has to stand at an intense angle to remain upright, which is actually to do with him being designed to work with the Yoda released at the same time.  It actually works well in that regard, but I didn’t own Yoda until *after* this review was written, so I didn’t really know.  When I reviewed him, he didn’t have his lightsaber and blaster, but I’ve found both of those, so now he’s all complete!  And lastly, my wife an I watched all of Righteous Gemstones a few months back, and after watching it, I can’t help but see this take on Luke as looking unmistakably like Keef.  So there’s that.

#3905: Saelt-Marea – Yak Face

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

SAELT-MAREA — YAK FACE

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“One of Jabba the Hutt’s top agents, very little is known about the mysterious Saelt-Marae or his specific connection to the crime lord. He could often be found hanging out in Jabba’s desert palace.”

Saelt-Marea, known as “Yak Face” during the production of Return of the Jedi and keeping that name until he got a proper one in the ‘90s, has the distinction of being the only vintage Kenner Star Wars figure never released in the United States, which has given his debut figure quite a bit of notoriety over the years.  That notoriety has gotten him a handful of additional figures over the years, which isn’t bad for a guy who just stands around in the background of Jabba’s Sail Barge.  His second figure, which is ever so more easily acquired than the first, was released in the ‘90s revival of Power of the Force, which is really where my main jam is, so here I am!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Saelt-Marea — Yak Face was added to the Power of the Force II line-up in 1997, which was a Jabba-heavy year.  He represents the first time the character would get his proper name, something that was pretty common for this line and its approach to the background aliens.  The figure stands just under 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  His neck joint is rather restricted, due to its implementation at an angle, as opposed to being flat.  His sculpt was all-new, and honestly not badly handled.  The original figure had made some guesses at his full design, so this one aimed to be a bit more accurate, most notably giving him his longer robe piece, which is a softer overlay piece on this figure.  The head seems to do an alright job of capturing the prop from the movie, and it looks the part pretty well.  There are definitely some elements here that are a little softer than other figures in the line, and he definitely comes across as a bit more basic compared to more modern takes on the character, but it certainly gets the job done.  Likewise, the figure’s color work is kind of in the same vein; it’s basic and kind of rudimentary compared to more recent stuff, but it does what it needs to and it works.  That said, it’s actually a little bit of a change-up from how things usually worked from vintage to PotF2, as Yak Face is actually a fair bit more colorful and eye-catching than his vintage counterpart, who was really rather drab.  Yak Face is packed with what the package dubs a “Battle Staff.”  Sure, I guess let’s go with that.  It’s a stick with some stuff on one end, and he holds it pretty well in his right hand, and not as well in his left.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

According to my database, I got this figure in September of 2019, intermingled with a batch of eight other Power of the Force figures.  He’s the eighth of them I’ve reviewed, though not because I dislike him or anything.  Mostly just luck of the draw.  Looking at the batch of figures he came home with, he was almost certainly part of a collection that got traded gnat All Time, which I plucked the figures I still needed from.  He’s nifty.  Nothing crazy, but a unique design, and a solid figure.

#3904: The Thing

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THE THING

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

When it comes to cinematic adaptations, Ben Grimm, the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing, has had a bit of a mixed presentation.  Michael Chiklis’s turn as Ben was undoubtedly the highlight of the two Story films, but Jaime Bell’s mumbling loner from Fant4stic was a particularly poor showing in an already poor film.  And, somewhere in the middle, you’ve got Micheal Bailey Smith and Carl Cialfalio’s two-handed Ben and Thing approach from the Corman movie, which is admittedly mostly just hampered by the film’s unfinished nature.  Where does Ebon Moss-Bachrach fall in the scale?  He’s at least as good as Chiklis, I’d say.  My only hang-up is that I don’t feel there’s as much time spent with him as the other three, so it’s a little harder to form a full opinion.  I do look forward to seeing more, though, and it’s certainly a much better approach than the one that immediately preceded it.  Anyway, here’s a figure of him!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Thing is another entry in the First Steps tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends, and the last of the four members of the titular team.  The figure stands just shy of 7 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  The film returns Ben to something closer to his ‘60s scaling, which means that this figure is the smallest of the Legends Thing figures to date.  That’s not a bad thing, mind you.  His articulation’s a little different from the other team members, given his bulkier stature.  We see a bit of a return to the “twisting meat” era with the biceps and the abdomen both having opposing joints that sort of cancel each other out.  It’s not quite as much of an aesthetic problem this time around, though.  Ben’s sculpt is all-new, and it’s…well, it’s not technically inaccurate,  but it’s not the look the character spends the bulk of the movie sporting.  In the film, in contrast to most depictions of the character, he has a full uniform to match the other three, but what we get here is something closer to how Ben’s classically depicted, sans shirt and boots.  We see him in action with this look briefly during the opening montage of the team’s first four years of exploits, and it also shows up a few times in the in-universe promotional images, keeping him more in line with the slightly adjusted hair styles of Reed and Johnny.  It’s ultimately a more quintessential look for the character, and I myself prefer it, but maybe we’ll see a more accurate final battle Ben, complete with bearded head sculpt later down the line?  This sculpt is a strong offering, though.  The likeness on the head matches his design in the film nice, and they do a good job of recreating the rocky texturing of his skin, as well as keeping his uniform’s stitching consistent with the other three team members.  I do especially like the more reserved expression on the head, which feels very in line with Moss-Bachrach’s portrayal of the character.  The paint work here is a bit mixed.  The rocky skin gets some really solid accenting, which really works well with the sculpted details.  On the flip side, the uniform is a bit sloppy, and one of the logos on his leg was all scratched-up right out of the box.  Ben is packed with two pairs of hands, one in fists and one in open gesture.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Ben’s my favorite FF member, and this was the figure from this set I was most looking forward to.  He’s a modern movie Legend, so if you’ve gotten a bunch of those, you know what you’re getting here.  It means he’s a pretty solid, pretty straight forward figure, though, and he certainly feels like he gets the character down pretty well.

Shoutout to 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.

#3903: Superman

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

SUPERMAN — 2025 MOVIE

DC MULTIVERSE (McFARLANE)

“Maybe that’s the real punk rock.”

While I’ve briefly touched on my feelings regarding the new Superman movie here on the site, I don’t feel I’ve truly articulated exactly how I feel about it.  The original 1978 film is a truly defining film for really the whole genre of super hero films, and a really tough act to follow, to the point that really not even any of the other Reeve films could do it, much less the two reboots after them.  I was hopeful for Gunn’s new take on Superman, but I simply didn’t anticipate just how well the film would do at capturing the spirit of the character.  I haven’t been as excited about a super hero movie since Captain America: Winter Soldier, which I assure you is exceptionally high praise.  David Corenswet’s turn as Clark Kent is on par with Reeve in terms of definitive, and I’m officially in my “want a bunch of figures from the movie” phase.  So, here’s one of those!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superman is part of McFarlane’s DC Multiverse tie-ins for the movie, specifically from one of the two standard price-point figures (the other being Metamorpho).  This one is just meant to be the standard, barebones version of the character, in his standard attire from the movie.  The figure stands just over 7 1/4 inches tall and he has 35 points of articulation.  The articulation is the standard set-up for the McFarlane stuff, so he’s pretty decently posable.  The sculpt on the figure is all-new.  It’s certainly a stronger offering, with the articulation being worked in rather organically, and the proportions not being super out of whack like earlier releases.  His head sculpt has a really strong likeness of Corenswet.  It’s probably the best of the multitude of sculpts offered up alongside the movie.  The hair’s maybe a little tighter to the head than in the final film, but it’s not far off.  The body sculpt does a lot with the piping and texturing of the design, which translates well to the figure form.  While most of the more recent Supermen have used cloth capes, this one goes back to sculpted, I would presume due to budgetary constraints for this release.  It’s honestly not a bad set-up.  Sure, it’s a bit restricting in posing, but the sculpting of it’s pretty solid.  I like the texturing, and it’s got a pretty natural hang.  The color work on this figure is decent enough, if a bit darker than the colors in the final film.  The suit’s using mostly molded colors, apart from the yellow, which is pretty cleanly painted.  The skin tone is totally painted, which is a little thick and slightly less lifelike, but not terribly so.  The application is again quite clean, and the likeness shows through really well.  Superman is packed with two pairs of hands (a pair of flat, and a fist/open gesture combo), a display stand, and a card.  I do wish he had a pair of fists, rather than just the one, but it’s still workable.  Also, I’d have loved to get a flight stand instead of the standard, but that’s been true of the last several Superman releases.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

It’s been no secret to my friends and family just how much I enjoyed Superman, so the fact that I didn’t really have any of the figures made them a prime target for gift options for my birthday this year.  This figure in particular was given to me for my birthday by my son Matthew, who was very excited to get him for me.  I had initially thought I’d just be content with the Super Powers figure, but I do really, really love how this guy turned out.  Once more, McFarlane turns in a really great Superman figure right before they hand over the license.

#3902: Gwen Stacy

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

GWEN STACY

SILVER AGE (TOY BIZ)

“Former student and model, Gwen Stacy was also Peter Parker’s girlfriend. Both Peter and Gwen were Biochemistry majors at Empire State University where they met and fell in love. Unbeknownst to Gwen, Peter Parker was secretly Spider-Man and Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin knew so. The Green Goblin kidnaped Gwen Stacy and used her as a hostage to exact revenge on his nemesis, Spider-Man. During their battle, the Goblin knocked Gwen Stacy off the Brooklyn Bridge. Spider-Man caught her with his webbing. Tragically, Gwen died from the shock of the fall, thus ending a major chapter in the personal life of Peter Parker.”

Last week, I took a jump into one of Toy Biz’s one-off specialty assortments released in 1999 to fill out their 5-inch Marvel run.  Titled “Silver Age”, it was designed to highlight characters from Marvel’s heyday of the ‘60s.  While largely heavy hitter driven, it did give them an opportunity for one slightly more off the beaten path sort of character.  By the end of the ‘90s, Spider-Man’s then-current love interest Mary Jane Watson had gotten two figures from Toy Biz, both via multipacks with Spidey variants.  His previous love interest, Gwen Stacy, was as of yet without any sort of toy coverage, but that was fixed by Silver Age, where she made her figure debut.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Gwen Stacy was one of the four figures in Toy Biz’s Silver Age line.  She was the only non-heavy hitter in the bunch, but paired off well with the included Spider-Man figure.  Gwen’s an interesting choice for a Silver Age line; she was created during the Silver Age, but her death, which is a major piece of her bio for this figure, is one of the defining events of the Bronze Age, and as such she’s frequently attached to that era.  The figure stands right about 5 inches tall and she has 9 points of articulation.  Her posability is odd.  She’s got no neck or elbow movement, but she’s got one wrist and ankles.  She’s not particularly agirl.  Gwen’s using what appears to be a variation of Aurora’s body from the Alpha Flight line, but smoothed out for a better base starting point.  It’s decent enough, but the torso’s a little too tightly sculpted to believably be a shirt.  She gets a cloth skirt piece as well, and a unique head/hair.  Interestingly, Gwen’s *not* wearing her attire from “The Night Gwen Stacy Died” despite that being the usual go-to.  It’s a design that still feels rather Gwen-y, though, so it works out well enough. The paint work on this figure is okay.  The skin tone’s nice and clean, as are the stripes on her shirt.  The eyes are a touch wonky, though.  Gwen is packed with a camera (presumably borrowed from Peter?  It’s a unique piece, though), and a pair of clip-on fur pieces for her boots, for fashion purposes, no doubt.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember seeing this figure a fair bit in ’99, but I didn’t know who she was at the time.  It was actually this figure that kind of got me interested in finding out, so I guess that’s kind of cool.  I didn’t get her at the time, though.  She’s a far more recent addition, from the last few years, grabbed during one of my family vacations from Gidget’s Gadgets, a neat shop in the area.  She actually got me invested in getting the rest of the Silver Age line-up, which I’d up to then been putting off.  She’s okay.  Not super playable or distinctive, but at the same time, she’s pretty solid for a civilian character who’d never gotten a figure before.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0039: Wolverine – Yukon & Yukio

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , ,

WOLVERINE — YUKON & YUKIO

MARVEL MINIMATES (DIAMOND SELECT TOYS)

It’s Friday, so we’re flashing back again!  Once more, we dive into the world of my early Minimates reviews!  A couple of weeks ago, I revisited some of the The Wolverine movie tie-ins.  Here’s another one of those, with Wolverine — Yukon and Yukio!

“Today, I’ll be taking a look at yet another set of Minimates. Like the last Minimates review I did. These also come from the tie-in line from this year’s The Wolverine. Once again, it features a variant of the title character, this time packed with his trusty companion Yukio.

THE FIGURE THEMSELVES

These two were released as part of the Toys R Us tie-in series for The Wolverine.

WOLVERINE (YUKON)

First up, it’s our hero Wolverine. He’s depicted in his “Yukon” look, from early in the film. This is the look that Logan sports for the first half an hour or so of the movie. It’s a very different look for the character, and is important to the character’s story in the film. It’s also really unique, which makes it stand out pretty well on the shelf. He’s built on the basic Minimate body, so he stands about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. He has sculpted pieces for his hair, jacket and claws. The claws are the same as those used on the rest of the Wolverines in the wave. The hair and jacket are new pieces. They are sculpted well, and accurately depict his look from this point in the movie. The paint is well done on the figure. In spite of it not being a default look, I think that the likeness on this Wolverine may be the best Jackman likeness so far. The paint on the coat could possibly be a little better, with so noticeable slop on the edges, but nothing too bad. There’s some great detail work on the pants, with the wrinkles and such all being present. And underneath the jacket piece, there’s also chest detailing, showing Logan in a brown turtle-neck. I don’t recall him wearing it in the movie, but I could be wrong. Regardless, it’s a nice touch. Yukon Wolvie is rounded out with a pair of spare normal hands and a clear display stand.

NINJA YUKIO

Next up is Yukio, who fills a role that would conventionally be referred to as the “sidekick”, but that doesn’t seem quite right for Yukio. Were it not for the fact that the title of the film was “The Wolverine” I feel like she’d fall more into the hero role. Anyway, she’s depicted here in her “ninja” look, at least according to the package. I’d personally describe it more as a formal look, since it’s what she wears during the funeral sequence. It’s one of her two main looks from the movie, so it makes sense to see it here. Like Wolverine, she’s built on the base Minimate body, and has the standard 2 ½ inces of height and 14 points of articulation. As far as sculpted pieces, there’s her hair, her forearms, her skirt, and here boots. The forearms are shared with Mariko from the specialty wave, the hair was previously used on the Amazing Spiderman Gwen Stacy, and the boots have seen numerous previous uses, including the Urban Yukio from the specialty wave. Near as I can tell, the skirt is a new piece. The paint is all fairly well done, though there is a bit of slop on the hair. The likeness is better here than on the Urban Yukio I feel, but still a bit off. Rila Fukushima, who plays Yukio in the film, has a very uniquely shaped face, which seems to be difficult to translate to the cylindrical Minimate head, so I think Diamond did a pretty good job. Yukio is accessorized with a sword and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set was ordered online via tru.com. Unlike Wolverine & Harada, I had no real issues acquiring this one, so that’s good.

I really like this set, it has a really unique Wolverine, and a very well done version of Yukio, who is one of the best characters in the movie. While I don’t think either figure is going to be the definitive version of the character for me, it’s a really fun little set!” 

Real talk?  I don’t really have any notes on this review.  I think I covered the bases pretty well, all of the parts are there, and my point still stands.  I thought it was an okay set then, and I still pretty much feel that way.  So, today’s just enough writing to justify showing off all the updated photos.  Here you go!

#3901: Malakili – Rancor Keeper

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

MALAKILI — RANCOR KEEPER

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“Malakili was one of the keepers of the only known rancor specimen. Kept in a special pit below the crime lord’s court, the rancor was reserved as a method of getting rid of unwelcome guests or others who failed the crime lord.”

Oh boy, we’re getting into the best part of Star Wars; the weird one-off background guys!  Prepare yourself for only the weirdest, most outlandish concepts and designs as we look into the crazy denizens of Jabba’s palace!  …What’s that?  It’s a shirtless guy?  Just a shirtless guy?  With a weird hood?  Does he do something cool?  He cries.  Well, I guess that’s *something*.  And he got a name, because of course he did.  Well, here’s Malakili, crying shirtless guy.  Can relate, buddy.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Malakili — Rancor Keeper was released as part of the 1997 line-up of Kenner’s Star Wars: Power of the Force.  Malakili got his second figure here, following up on the original vintage version, and he was one seven Jabba-related figures in the line the year of his release.  Curiously, that didn’t include the actual Rancor, which hit the following year.  The figure stands a little under 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  His articulation is all rather limited by his build and the layout of his costume, but he mostly just stands around anyway, so it’s not awful.  His sculpt was totally unique, and it’s not a bad approximation of what he looks like in the movie.  The head sculpt bears an uncanny resemblance to Denholm Elliot, which, you know, isn’t the guy that played Malakili, but I suppose Elliot and Paul Brookes, the guy that actually played Malakili, don’t look incredibly dissimilar, especially at this scale.  The rest of the sculpt is pretty good, though, and I do like the flow of the cloth parts and how they hang.  Malakili’s paint work isn’t too bad.  There’s actually some pretty solid work on his skin tone (which is classified by Wookieepedia as “swarthy”, so there’s that), that gives him some nice variation.  Malakili is packed with a long-handled Vibro-Blade, and, if you got a later release, a freeze frame with a picture of the Rancor.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I can’t say I have much attachment at all to Malakili, but he’s also the sort of character that is rather memorable.  He also doesn’t have a *ton* of action figures, so this one’s notable.  Ultimately, I bought him because he was readily available and I was looking to get a lot of Power of the Force figures at once.  I didn’t really expect much from him at the start, but honestly, he’s not so bad.

Shoutout to 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.

#3900: Johnny Storm

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

JOHNNY STORM

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

There’s no shortage of Johnny Storms in the MCU.  Or, at least, there’s no shortage of Johnny Storm *actors* in the MCU.  They’ve absorbed all of them thus far, and the next logical step, of course, is to just have their own Johnny, portrayed by Joseph Quinn in First Steps.  He does a solid job with the part, giving the MCU a Johnny to be proud of, and one that won’t get lost despite the overabundance of Johnny actors around.  And, just to make sure he doesn’t get lost in the sea of MCU-associated product, there are two versions of him available in the Legends assortment for the movie.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Johnny Storm is part of the 6-figure Marvel Legends tie-in assortment for Fantastic Four: First Steps.  As noted above, there are two Johnny figures included, one flamed on and one not.  This one is the not, in case the photos didn’t clue you in.  I do really like getting that option right out of the gate; we don’t really see it much with these figures.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation.  His construction is very similar to Reed, though the two don’t actually share any parts.  All four members of the team have unique uniforms in the movie, and Johnny’s is the one that deviates the most from the traditional set-up, at least in terms of color break-down.  That said, it’s still a very FF-feeling set-up, so I can certainly dig it.  It’s also neat how they decided to put the whole team in a knit material so that Johnny would have something that looked like his old “heat lines” when flamed-on.  Johnny’s head sculpt has a good likeness of Quinn.  As with Reed, the hair isn’t quite on the mark for his look in the movie; it seems to take its influence from the in-universe promotional images within the movie, which have Johnny with a slightly more swept-back look.  The color work is largely consistent with the other two I’ve looked at; the exact details are slightly tweaked, and he’s definitely cleaner than Sue, but overall very similar.  I do like the accenting on the hair, as well as the very subtle stubble on his face.  Johnny is packed with two sets of hands (in open and fists), as well as two flame effect pieces.  The fists for some reason omit the black palms from the gloves, which is rather glaring in most poses.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

If nothing else, I am a sucker for a fully powered down Johnny figure, given their relative rarity for so long.  So, when the movie figures were confirmed to be giving us both, that made me quite happy.  I was also quite pleased by Joseph Quinn’s casting in the role, and his performance was certainly a highlight in the film.  The figure is fun.  Pretty much exactly on par with the others, and by extension exactly on par with other modern Legends, but it’s hard to complain about consistency when it’s this good.

Shoutout to 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.

#3899: The Fortress of Solitude with Superman Robot

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

FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE with SUPERMAN ROBOT

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

Economies of scale and drifting interests in the world of action figures have almost entirely robbed us of playsets in this day and age.  They just can’t justify themselves most of the time.  Sure, we still get the odd TMNT lair, and there’s a bat cave every so often, but that’s really about it.  McFarlane’s Super Powers continuation has aimed to recapture a lot of the vibes of the vintage line, which has included a decent helping of vehicles to go with the figures.  The only thing they *hadn’t* gotten to was playsets, but they’re swinging for the fences on their last run before handing the license over at the end of the year.  Taking advantage of the hype from the new Superman movie, we’ve gotten a new Fortress of Solitude playset, which I’m taking a look at today!

THE TOYS THEMSELVES

The Fortress of Solitude Playset is part of the Superman movie tie-in portion of McFarlane’s Super Powers line.  There are two different versions of the set available: a standard release and a McFarlane-exclusive Gold Label release that includes an exclusive Superman Robot figure.  The one seen here is the Gold Label version.

The Fortress is a rather large thing, both in the movie and the comics, so there’s obviously a scaled down approach taken here.  We get sort of a slice of the Fortress’s main area, as seen in a number of the movie’s key sequences, mostly focusing on the computer area.  There’s a mixed media approach, with some sculpted elements and some cardboard pieces mixed in.  While the bulk of the crystalline structure is just cardboard, a surprising amount of the rest of it’s sculpted.  The whole central console, the base it plugs into, the chair, the two free-standing columns, and the two end crystals are all plastic.  The central console is certainly the coolest part of the whole thing, with is various buttons and screens all detailed.  The chair just sort of sits there, not actually attached, but I suppose that gives you a little more variety in how exactly you set it all up?  There’s nothing gimmicky or particularly play-related about the set, though.  It’s really just a large display for your figures, but it does that well enough.

Available only with the Gold Label release is the Superman Robot figure.  Specifically, it’s “4”, the Alan Tudyk-voiced robot that serves at the lead robot in the movie.  He’s certainly a noteworthy character, and is present in all of the film’s Fortress scenes, so his inclusion makes a lot of sense.  The figure stands just over 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  His sculpt is all-new, and it’s a decent recreation of the general vibe of the design from the movie.  He’s definitely a little bit clunkier than the in-film design, but it works with the overall style of the line.  The design lends itself to toy form quite nicely, and I love how sharp the detailing is.  His paint work leans heavily into the metallic side of things, which is perhaps not truly “vintage,” since he would have almost certainly been vac metalized blue like the original Brainiac, but it does look pretty nice.  I dig that there’s a variety of different shades of blue, and I quite like how the robotic eye has been rendered.  His only extra is his little blue half-cape, which fits the vibe of the line well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t do much with playsets these days, because space is a premium and all, but I’ll admit the standard Fortress *almost* got me when they showed it off.  I came very close to pulling the trigger, but held off.  I was pretty glad about that when the Gold Label version got leaked, because I absolutely needed a 4 figure, and this let me get him in my preferred style.  The Fortress set-up is neat.  Perhaps a bit pricey for what it is, which is just a large accessory, but that’s kind of where we are.  4 is super cool, though, and I’m glad to have him.  Perhaps the only thing that could have made this set better is if they’d also included a Krypto.

#3898: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

SILVER AGE (TOY BIZ)

“Steve Rogers, a frail, sickly orphan, enlisted in the army on the eve of World Ear II but was rejected due to this poor physical condition. Given a second change, Rogers volunteered for a special experiment called Operation Rebirth. He was injected with a “Super Soldier” serum and his body was transformed into a body as perfect as a human can be. He was trained in gymnastics, hand-to-hand combat and military strategy and became Captain America. In addition to speed, strength, agility, endurance and reaction speed far superior to any Olympic athlete, Captain America was given an unbreakable Adamantium shield as his sole weapon. Captain America has since faced all types of threats and has and always will be a true symbol of truth, liberty and justice.”

In 1999, Toy Biz was exploring direct market options for keeping their 5-inch Marvel offerings going, and wound up offering a handful of one-off sets of figures, each with a loose theme.  There was a pair of them based around different eras of the Marvel Universe, one Silver Age, the other Modern.  Today, I’m jumping into the former, with a look back at Marvel’s Silver Age of comics….sort of….not really.  Look, I’ll get to it.  The important thing here is that I’m looking at a Toy Biz Captain America, and that’s always a good time for me.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America is the first of the four figures that make up the Silver Age line from Toy Biz.  While Modern Age skewed a bit more obscure with some of its choices, Silver Age was very heavy hitter friendly.  Both line-ups were offered up through Previews, so they were predominantly comic store exclusives.  I know KB got Modern Age, but I don’t recall if Silver Age ever made that jump.  Anyway, let’s talk about Cap!  So, let’s be clear about something right out of the gate: this is emphatically *not* a Silver Age Captain America.  They gave him a card with the cover of Avengers #4, which introduced Cap to the Silver Age, but the actual figure is very much first appearance Cap, which makes him a Golden Age Cap.  But, I suppose a “Golden Age” line of Marvel figures would struggle with a wider audience, so Cap got shuffled. The figure stands 5 3/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  He made use of the mold from the Marvel vs Capcom Cap from earlier that same year.  It’s my favorite of the Toy Biz Cap molds, for sure, and generally the one that works best with their overall 5-inch line.  The only thing that’s a little off about it in a non-video game application is that the head is definitely a Capcom Cap, not a straight comics one, and this figure is definitely aiming for a more direct Kirby vibe.  There *were* new parts in this line-up, but not a ton, so they may have just figured it was close enough.  I still don’t hate it, even if it’s not crazy accurate.  The primary change-up is the paint, which serves to make him all not-Silver-Age-y.  He’s got his modified mask, without the neck coverage.  It doesn’t really follow the sculpted lines, of course, so you just have to ignore that and hope for the best.  Otherwise, he also changes the colors a bit, so the blue is a lot darker here than on others.  Beyond that, application’s pretty clean, and he gets some okay accent work.  Cap is packed with both of his shields, the circular one and the original badge-shaped one.  The circular one is the same mold as the MvC one, but using a different plastic, so the clip isn’t as prone to breaking, making it a perfect replacement for the MvC one that broke.  The other shield is neat, because you didn’t tend to see it, and this was its first toy coverage.  It’s also got actual cloth straps, which are very fun.  Lastly, there’s a trading card with the Avengers #4 cover that doesn’t have anything to do with this figure, but is still a nice example of a good cover.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

There were three Captain America figures released in 1999, and I got two of them.  I wanted all three, but my parents were still working towards grasping why I needed nearly identical figures of the same guy.  I’d already gotten them to buy me the United They Stand Cap, and I guess I just didn’t want to push my luck with this one?  I looked at it a lot of times, I recall, and I’m sure if I’d really asked, they would have bought it for me.  I recall being a bit frustrated by a clearly Golden Age Cap being in a Silver Age line, even as a seven-year-old, so perhaps I just wasn’t personally ready to own him.  He’s been on my list for a while, though.  He’s not rare, but he’s not super plentiful, so he never landed in front of me.  At the beginning of the year, as I started to get back to my Toy Biz collecting, he was on my short list, and now here he is.  I do sure like him a lot.