Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0034: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL SUPER HEROES (TOY BIZ)

Hey, it’s July 4th.  Well, isn’t that something. Really going great for us as a country here, huh?  Lot to celebrate?  American Dream feeling super realized?  Oh, wait, no, it’s actually none of those things.  Well, gee, that’s a bit of a bummer.  And I’m not even writing a proper review today?  Wow, guys, sorry.  If nothing else, I’ll lean into my own personal coping mechanism for the ugliness surrounding us, which is championing behind a man who’s loyal to the dream and made a career out of punching Nazis, Captain America!

“When Captain America throws his mighty shield! All Foes who chose to oppose his shield must yield!”

-Captain America Theme Song

My first introduction to Captain America was through VHS copies of the ‘60s cartoon. As cheesy as they are, I loved every minute of them. Sadly, in the mid-90s, when I was becoming so fond of Cap as a character, he was more or less absent from toy shelves. I eventually got the Spider-Man: The Animated Series version when it was finally released, but the figure I always wanted was Toy Biz’s first version of the character, which I’ll be looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America was released in Series 1 of Toy Biz’s Marvel Super Heroes line. This Cap stands just under 5 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation. This figure predates elbow articulation becoming a standard for Toy Biz’s Marvel stuff, as they were still very much aping the Kenner Super Powers style, and none of those had elbow movement. Really, this whole figure in general feels like a Captain America figure done to fit with Super Powers (well, aside from size, since he’s taller than any figure Kenner put out), which is far from a bad thing. Rather than the more ‘90s-esc proportions of which Toy Biz would later become so fond, Cap is pretty subdued, and looks more or less like a real person. His torso features some awesome detailing for the scale-mail, and I love the way they’ve sculpted the star logo so as to make it pop a bit more. Figures of Captain America have the unfortunate tendency to miss the mark on the good Captain’s face. I guess he’s just one of those characters where it has to be just right. I think this figure’s the closest anyone’s ever gotten to my ideal Captain America, at least from a comic-based perspective. It’s a little round by today’s standards, but I really like the overall style present here.  There’s just a certain sincerity to it that lots of Caps lack. Cap’s paintwork is quite nicely handled, especially for the time. The colors are all nice and bold, and he really sells the whole patriotic super hero thing. His eyes are admittedly a little wonky, and it would have been nice for his belt buckle to be something other than the unpainted blue plastic, but those are relatively minor complaints. Cap was packed with his mighty shield, as well as a weird launching device for it. However, my figure sadly lacks these pieces.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I noted in the intro, this was a figure I really wanted growing up. Unfortunately, he was released before I got into collecting, and wasn’t very easy to find after the fact. So, I had to settle for the US Agent repaint from a few series later. In fact, my dad, as awesome as he was, even bought me an extra US Agent and we painted him up in proper Cap colors, which held me over quite nicely. This particular figure ended up being one of the fifteen figures I picked up at the last Balticon. I’m glad to finally have the official version, and he’s aged a bit better than a lot of Toy Biz’s output from the same time period.

Well, after being rather disappointed with my own review for last week’s Addendum, this one feels more on the money.  Admittedly, it was a generally better time for my writing.  I’d just graduated from college, and I was writing this in my down time on an RV trip I took with Jess and her aunt and uncle.  It gave me more time to properly appreciate things.  I do still really like this guy.  Since my original review, I did manage to track down a shield and launcher for him.  It’s the same one used with US Agent, of course, but in more proper coloring.  It’s gimmicky, but ultimately not in a really obtrusive way, so I don’t hate it.  All-in-all, Toy Biz kind of hit it pretty strong with their original Cap, and I don’t really know that they ever truly topped it.

#3881: Darth Vader

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

DARTH VADER

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (HASBRO)

“Darth Vader was known and feared throughout the galaxy as incredibly ruthless and evil, one who used the awesome powers of the dark side of the Force to carry out Emperor Palpatine’s horrific plans. But deep inside Lord Vader lay vestiges of the person he once was: young Anakin Skywalker, discovered on the planet Tatooine by a Jedi Knight who recognized the boy’s special Force talents. Anakin showed much promise and grew to be a great Jedi. Finally, the dark side beckoned him – and Anakin became Darth Vader.”

I’ve circled back a few times with Power Force regarding its initial approach to the characters with minimal changes between the films in the original trilogy.  At the start, they went with the same set-up as the vintage Kenner line, so characters like Vader, Chewbacca, R2, and 3PO each got one sort of averaged out, all encompassing figure.  As the line expanded, however, they clearly realized how limiting that might be, so slightly more diversified, film specific variants made their way in.  1998 kicked off with a rather specifically Return of the Jedi Vader with a fancy removable helmet and the proper inner robe he’d not had before.  At the end of the year, another Vader did something else never done before: a specifically A New Hope Vader.  It held that title for less than a year, but that’s hardly the point.  Let’s jump into to this short span Vader, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Darth Vader was released in 1998’s first portion of the “Flashback Photo” Power of the Force II figures.  There was quite an A New Hope focus in this round of figures.  Vader, for his part, with his included lightsaber and slight action pose, was definitely designed to pair off with Obi-Wan from the same set.  The figure is just over 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 10 points of articulation.  He sported the same improved articulation as much of the other figures in this particular sub-set.  It does allow him to properly hold his lightsaber with both hands, which is at least pretty nice.  His sculpt was all-new, though it would see re-use a few times down the line later.  It’s…well, it’s something.  After the far improved sculpt we saw on the removable helmet Vader, this one is rather a step back, feeling far more in line with the earlier, puffier Vaders from the line.  The improved mobility is nice, but ultimately limited by how much extra bulk he’s got going on.  There’s at least some rather sharply sculpted texturing, so he’s a general step up from the original Vader in a purely technical sense.  The inner robe, which goes over his shoulder plate, is properly detailed, and even looks like its properly hanging on the armor beneath.  His paint work is also a bit better.  There are some more subtleties, with variations on the finish of the black sections, as well as red lenses on the eyes of the helmet.  Vader is packed with his lightsaber, as well as the Flashback Photo thingy.  It shows Vader proper, and then younger Anakin for the second time.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

In a line with a bunch of rather similar Darth Vader figures, this one is notable for the lack of any real distinguishing features.  I guess he’s got some extra articulation?  For me, he falls squarely into “bought it for completion’s sake” territory.  I got him alongside a few of the other Flashback figures because he was there and I was getting the rest.  Luke and Obi-Wan were both figures I regretted waiting so long to actually open, but Vader…Vader’s just sort of meh.  He does nothing to really stand out at all.

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.

#3880: Astro Megazord

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

ASTRO MEGAZORD

POWER RANGERS IN SPACE (BANDAI)

With Hasbro’s Lightning Collection ended and Playmates taking the line back to the Mighty Morphin roots again, I don’t do much talking about Power Rangers around here these days.  It’s not for lack of appreciation, but I’ll admit I don’t have *quite* the attachment some people do to it.  I am, however, a hardcore Power Rangers in Space supporter, so I do have my collection of stuff associated with that show, even going back to the original tie-in line for the show.  Something entirely absent from all of my Rangers coverage up to now is the Megazords, which are kind a key piece of all the shows.  I don’t really have many, because of the space commitments, but I still gotta get that In Space coverage somehow, so let’s look at an Astra Megazord.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Astro Megazord was released as part of the first “Action Zords” assortment of Bandai’s Power Rangers in Space tie-in line in the Spring of 1997.  The Action Zords were smaller scale Zords sold in the same blister style packaging as the standard release figures, as a sort of competitor to Micro Machines’ Action Fleet range.  There were two versions of the Astro Megazord, one in robot configuration, the other in ship mode, and the Mega Tank.  This figure here is the robot Astro Megazord, in case you couldn’t tell.  The figure stands about 5 inches tall and has 9 points of articulation.  The articulation is rather on the restricted side.  The neck, shoulders, and elbows are all just cut joints, while the hips and ankles are rather simple ball-joints.  None of it has much range, but then again, neither did the show design.  The biggest hang-up, really, is the lack of hinges on the elbows.  Also, for whatever reason, none of the joints really stay in place, so he falls apart a lot, especially at the arms.  There are also opening flaps on the torso and lower legs, allowing for some storage space. The sculpt here actually recreates the show design rather well, and since it’s not sporting any sort of transformation feature, it even winds up being more show accurate than the standard Megazord release. The sculpt is generally pretty sharp in terms of detailing, and there’s not too many concessions made for translating it to toy form. The Astro Megazord’s color work is pretty much just the basics, but it does those well. The colors match okay with the show (the blue could perhaps be a shade lighter, but it’s very minor), and the paint application is overall clean and without notable slop or bleed over. Mine’s got some slight wear, but given how long I’ve had him, he’s really not bad. The Astro Megazord is packed with his sword, shield, and blaster, as well as a miniature Red Ranger and Astro Glider. Andros and the glider are far from proper scaling, but still pretty neat, and show that lean into the Action Fleet stylings most clearly.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This was one of the handful of In Space toys I had when the show was still on. He was most definitely a purchase by my Grandmother on one of our KB Toys trips when I’d go and stay with her and my Granddad. This one got quite a bit of play, and got lugged back and forth to my post-Kindergarten day care more than a few times. I lost Andros and one of the arms along the way. Well, I lost the whole thing, and even bought myself a replacement a couple of years ago, but then I found most of my original, and used the replacement to restore him. He’s small, but super cool.

#3879: Superman – Movie

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

SUPERMAN — MOVIE

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE TOYS)

This month is shaping up to a pretty solid one in terms of super hero movie coverage, with offerings from both Marvel and DC hitting in the next four weeks, both aiming to refresh the companies’ respective cinematic universes.  DC is up to bat first, with their latest attempt at bringing Superman to the big screen.  There’s a pretty decent product push for this one, in contrast to the last several DC movie projects, allowing you to get Big Blue and his supporting cast in several different styles.  McFarlane’s got both 7-inch and Super Powers figures, and if you know anything about me, you can probably guess which direction I leaned on that split.  So, without further ado, here’s another Super Powers Superman!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superman (Movie) is part of the 12th assortment of McFarlane’s Super Powers line, which is an entire assortment dedicated to the movie.  While Super Powers has never done direct movie tie-ins previously, there were plans to do some loosely tied-in items for the Reeve movies in the Kenner days, and both Kenner and Toy Biz would use derivatives of the original molds for figures tying into the Keaton Batman movies, so it’s not entirely unprecedented.  Given the aim of the film to be more classically comic-inspired, it also seems to fit with this movie specifically.  The figure stands a little over 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  At his core, he’s the same as the updated classic Superman, which makes a lot of sense.  I do really like this base body, and there’s no denying that it feels like a good extension of the vintage Kenner stuff.  He gets a new head, belt, and boots in order to help make him more in line with the new movie design.  The head is clearly modeled on Corenswet, but it’s not a direct likeness, instead being kind of merged with a more traditional Superman look, for something more “style guide” appropriate.  It does seem perhaps a touch too large for the body, but not to a ridiculous extent.  The new boots and belt modify the body to bring it more in line with the modified suit design, but still keep things a little more stripped down and clean than the actual on-screen design, which I think works a little better for the line.  He’s also got a cloth cape, which I find myself liking a lot more than previous ones; the neck clasp seems to have been made a slightly less odd shape, so it sits in place better.  His paint work is decent enough.  I like the distinct color palette, as it helps him stand out more from the other Supermen.  There’s a little bit of slop/bleedover, but nothing super noteworthy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

At this point, I really am just kind of buying all of the remaining McFarlane Super Powers, in part because I just keep enjoying them, and in part because I know we’ve only got so long before there are again no more.  I wasn’t sure about movie figures, but at the same time, I knew I wanted figures from the movie, and I also knew that I’d want new Super Powers, so I guess it does sort of work out well.  Since Clark himself sold out almost immediately most places, I resorted to ordering him from GameStop, who have remained my most reliable source for these guys.  He’s neat, and I like him a lot.

#3878: She-Hulk

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

SHE-HULK

MARVEL UNIVERSE (TOY BIZ)

So, here’s the neat thing about the original Secret Wars miniseries: it sucks!  Sorry, is that too harsh?  Well, I stand by it.  There were toys, and it’s big and flashy, and it’s got everyone’s favorites in one place, but it’s genuinely just a mess of a story that really doesn’t work if you put in under even the slightest bit of scrutiny.  There were, however, some good things that came out of it.  Obviously, Spider-Man’s new costume is high on the list, but also, in light of Ben Grimm’s decision to stay on Battle World, we get She-Hulk joining the Fantastic Four.  It’s a fun change of dynamic, and it worked out really well in their main book.  It’s also a great excuse for a She-Hulk variant.  Oh hey, here’s one of those!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

She-Hulk is the seventh mail-away exclusive through ToyFare magazine, specifically offered up as an incentive for purchasing a year’s subscription in 1998.  This was Toy Biz’s second go at She-Hulk, which honestly makes her something of a rarity for the mail-aways, who tended to be new characters.  In fact, she’s also a pretty notable character in general, compared to the other caliber of characters generally offered.  The figure stands about 7 inches tall and she has 8 points of articulation.  Her mold originally hailed from the Hulk line, which was made up of a lot of rather large figures.  She-Hulk was no exception.  She’s not incredibly posable, though.  The lack of neck or elbows, and the choice to give her the dreaded v-hips means she’s really only good for standing.  And even that’s a bit iffy, if I’m honest.  The sculpt is…well it is what it is.  It’s kind of soft, except for the hair, which is surprisingly sharp by comparison.  Her arms are rather long and her proportions are weird.  With all of the crazy builds of the characters in the Hulk line, I guess this one just sort of threw them for a bit of a loop.  It’s not awful, but not great.  Her distinguishing feature here is the paint work.  She’s got the FF uniform in place of her purple leotard, as seen in the comics.  It matches the earlier Fantastic Four line’s version of the team, so she can fit right in, even if that does mean that she’s got bright blue on the costume when it *technically* should be black, or at least a very dark blue.  I’ll give them a pass, since correcting it for her would mean she wouldn’t match the other figures.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember seeing the little pamphlet for this figure when she was offered up, but I didn’t fully comprehend at the time how you were supposed to get her.  My main She-Hulk wound up being the Hall of Fame version, and I just never got around to tracking this one down.  That is until I decided I was tired of all of my Toy Biz Marvel figures being boxed up or unopened, and put a bunch of them up on the shelves, at which point I started actively hunting the ones I didn’t have again.  She-Hulk wound up being the first of the ToyFare exclusives I was missing to wind up in front of me for a good deal, so here she is.  She’s got her issues for sure, but she’s good at what she needs to be, which is a Toy Biz FF She-Hulk.  Admittedly, I might be slightly biased on this one.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0033: Mole Man

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

MOLE MAN

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOY BIZ)

We are back with the Flashback Friday Figure Addendums, and today, we’re continuing last week’s return back to my earliest Fantastic Four reviews here on the site.  This one contains less outright lying to my dear readers, but I won’t say it’s without issue.  So, here’s Mole Man!

I’m looking at a fourth (hey that’s neat!) figure from Toybiz’s 90s Fantastic Four line.  This time it’s a figure of their first foe (Other than those wacky cosmic rays):  Mole Man.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The figure is Mole Man, released in the first wave of Fantastic Four figures.  He’s got 7 points of articulation and he stands about 5 inches tall.  And that’s an issue.  Mole Man is a character typically depicted as being a short, fat guy in the comics, and while Toybiz got the girth right, the scale of this figure is WAY off.  He’s the same height as just about everyone in the line, but he’s obviously meant to be smaller.  Quite frankly, he looks like he belongs with a marvel Legends set up, were it not for the more simplistic styling of the figure.  He’s also got this weird spinning right hand action feature.  When you press the button at the top of his right arm, his hand quickly spins 360 degrees.  I’m not really sure what it’s purpose is, but there you have it.  Somebody thought that was a good hook for the figure.  This figure is fairly disappointing, because the sculpt isn’t bad, but the scale totally kills it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Mole Man, while disappointing, actually represents a pretty neat story.  He was purchased in 2003 from a KB Toys liquidation center.  It was pretty much this giant KB, that was full of deeply discounted toys from about 5-10 years earlier.  Mole Man was purchased along with a large selection of other 90s Marvel figures for an insanely low price, which excited me greatly.

Okay, I’m gonna be real with you guys: I don’t like this review.  That’s a first for me.  I’ve looked back on earlier writing and felt like maybe it didn’t hold up as well, but this is the first time I’ve just actively disliked it.  The “wacky cosmic rays” bit is perhaps the only thing I don’t hate.  I blame my desire to place whit over function earlier on in my writing, which sometimes worked, but sometimes did…this?

I feel like I was exceptionally harsh on the figure, specifically on the scaling front, which is a bit much.  Like, yes, he’s too large to properly fit with the rest of the line, but I don’t know that it’s a total deal breaker the way I make it out to be up above.  In fact, it’s a pretty nice sculpt, all things considered.  And yeah, the spinning wrist isn’t the most thrilling feature, but it works well with his staff, and it’s not as intrusive as, say, Dr. Doom’s launching arm or Reed’s rubber arms.  So, I’m gonna have to break from past Ethan and say I think this figure’s actually pretty okay.  He was missing his staff and little Moloid buddy when I reviewed him, but I’ve since found them, and they do really help make him cooler.

Also, I talk a little about the KB Toys Liquidation Center at the end, and say it’s a great story, but then I don’t really elaborate.  The significance of that story is that my Dad, Grandmother, brother, and I took a day trip out to this spot, and we just absolutely loaded up on stuff, a lot of it being Toy Biz Marvel for me.  And then we got lunch, and just generally had a good time of things.  My Grandmother viewed it as sort of a progression of our weekly trips to the KB in the mall near her house, and always reflected pretty positively on the trip, which was pretty cool.  So, *that’s* the cool story.

#3877: Luke Skywalker

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

LUKE SKYWALKER

STAR WAR: POWER OF THE FORCE II (HASBRO)

“Bored with the mundane life of a moisture farmer on Tatooine, Luke Skywalker dreamed of being a great pilot. He targeted womp rats while racing his T-16 skyhopper through the steep and narrow walls of Beggar’s Canyon. Many years earlier, Luke’s father also raced over the surface of Tatooine in his podracer. Anakin eventually turned to the dark side and became Darth Vader but was finally redeemed by his son Luke.”

In the whole of the vintage Kenner run of Star Wars 3 3/4-inch figures, we got Luke’s “farmboy” look exactly once.  When Power of the Force II launched in the ’90s, the look got its second go right away.  And then it showed back up in 1998, and just… Kept. Showing. Up.  Between 1998 and 1999, there were no less than five versions of Farmboy Luke available, which is is a lot.  Today’s figure?  Well, he got a new hat.  No, seriously: he got a new hat.  Let’s look a Luke and his new hat.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke Skywalker was released in the initial 1998 “Flashback Photo” assortment of Power of the Force.  The set had a rather “greatest hits” vibe to it, and Luke was right at home with that set-up.  This was the fourth of the five Farmboy Lukes in the ’98-’99 run.  He’s notable for being based on a deleted scene from the original film, which would have introduced Luke earlier than his purchase of the droids.  It’s interesting, because I think this was the first figure of its kind, which is pretty neat.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has a whopping 10 points of articulation.  He starts with the standard 6 and then also gets hinges at the elbows and swivels at the wrists, to say nothing of his neck joint being a ball joint, rather than the standard swivel.  He’s by far the most posable Luke in the line, which is somewhat amusing, given he’s not supposed to be from an action scene.  Though his sculpt looks very similar to the other four Farmboy Lukes, its wholly unique, thanks to how the articulation is implemented.  Honestly, it’s pretty nice.  The proportions aren’t the wacky muscle-bound set-up from earlier in the line, and the head’s an okay likeness.  The articulation’s useful, but also doesn’t ruin the sculpt.  I dig it.  The paint is pretty much what we expect on this sort of figure.  It’s clean, and there’s a little bit of accenting on the boots and bands, which helps the sculpt.  Luke was packed with three scene specific accessories.  He’s got the aforementioned hat, a rifle, and a pair of binoculars.  The hat’s funny, but also unique, and it stays okay on his head.  The rifle gets a surprising amount of painted detailing, and the binoculars can plug onto his belt for storage.  He also gets the Flashback Photo, showing him, and when you pull the tab, a young Anakin.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I owned none of these growing up, but saw them many times.  When I made my first real push to start a complete run, this Luke, along with the Leia from last week, were two of the first figures I snagged….and then I didn’t open them for, like, six years.  Yikes.  Seriously, I opened this figure less than 24 hours before I wrote this review, and that’s honestly ridiculous.  What was I doing?  Other stuff, I guess.  I like this Luke a lot.  He’s very fun.  I wish I’d opened him earlier, but I have now, and that’s pretty cool.

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

#3876: Orko

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

ORKO — HEROIC COURT MAGICIAN!

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE ORIGINS (MATTEL)

I am veritably swimming in Masters of the Universe reviews these days, aren’t I?  Okay, maybe not, but two of them in one month is something of a crazy step up compared to more recent set-ups.  I’m continuing to stick to my guns on only following specific characters, but Mattel keeps getting my by doing additional variants of said characters.  It’s like the *know*.  Or, you know, they’re trying to keep the line fresh.  The last couple of years, Mattel’s been revisiting a lot of the Origins figures to do more specifically Filmation-inspired takes, and the latest of those includes one of my go-to guys, Orko!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Orko is part of the 25th series of Masters of the Universe Origins, which is a completely Cartoon Collection-branded assortment (simply “Cartoon” since they can’t actually use “Filmation” on the packaging).  The figure is about 3 inches tall (without his flight stand) and he has 14 points of articulation.  As with all Orkos, he’s without any legs, so he doesn’t get any articulation on that front, but he’s got a decent selection of movement in the arms, and even gets an extra point of movement from the last Origins Orko, thanks to his hat being on a balljoint, so you can move it back and forth.  His sculpt is an entirely new one from the last figure.  While there was certainly a cartoon inspiration on the last one, he was also serving two masters in a sense, also replicating the vintage figure.  One of the biggest areas was actually how big he was; he was about an inch too tall for proper scaling with the other figures.  This one addresses that, so he’ll fit in better with the others.  Otherwise, his sculpt isn’t *drastically* different from the last one.  It’s more of a death by paper cuts sort of thing where the small changes all add up to a different looking figure.  In terms of color work, the two figures remain fairly consistent, however.  The one notable change is, at least on my copy, that this guy’s application is a lot cleaner.   Orko gets a pretty nice selection of extras, with a flight stand, his “Hero” medal from “Creatures From the Tar Swamp”, and an extra head and scarf so that Orko can be turned into his Uncle Mortok.  Apart from the beard not totally covering Orko’s “O”, it’s a very cool set-up, and I like getting an extra character out of it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When I bought my Classics Orko, I really thought that was gonna be it.  The Origins one was cool, but I didn’t need it….until I saw it in hand and I caved, because I’m an easy mark.  I didn’t think I’d need *another* one, though, especially since he was more directly cartoon based than other Origins figures.  But, by the time this one was announced, I knew it wasn’t a battle I was going to win, so I’ve actually been rather looking forward to his release.  I think he’s really cool, and does a lot more than the last one, which makes him feel really worth it.

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.

#3875: Adam Strange

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

ADAM STRANGE

DC MULTIVERSE (McFARLANE)

Behold, the original super hero adjacent hero whose last name is inexplicably “Strange!”  How about that?  Introduced in 1958, Adam Strange is a bit like John Carter in spandex, a play on a lot of classic sci-fi adventure tropes.  He’s one of two science-fiction heroes commissioned by DC that year, the other being Space Ranger, a character that just didn’t have the same staying power.  Adam, on the other hand, has remained something of a cult fixture since his creation.  He’s been sort of sparse on the action figure front, but not entirely absent, since he does have a pretty killer look.  So, let’s look at one of those figures now!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Adam Strange is figure #33 in the Collector Edition sub-line of McFarlane’s DC Multiverse line.  As with most of the other Collector Edition figures, there are two versions of Adam available: a standard and a platinum edition in “stealth” colors.  The one seen here is the standard.  The figure stands just over 7 inches tall and he has 35 points of articulation.  Strange is built on the base body that originated with the Blue & Gold boxed set, which seen a real upswing in use as the line’s progressed.  It’s a solid enough starting point, and certainly one of McFarlane’s nicest.  And, in the case of Adam, it’s a good fit and doesn’t fall victim to the same inaccuracies as some of the earlier uses.  Adam also gets a lot of new parts to transition the base body.  The box specifically calls out this figure as being based on Strange Adventures, specifically the more classically-inspired Doc Shaner illustrations from the book.  Unlike a lot of McFarlane’s supposedly directly inspired figures, Adam’s actually quite a good match for Shaner’s take on the character, especially on the head.  There are no less than four face-plates for the figure; the two more “standard” expressions really match Shaner’s work.  The masked face is pretty neat, if not exactly standard issue.  The only one I’m not crazy about is the screaming one, but they at least tried something different.  Adam’s color work is quite bright and colorful, and very eye catching.  He gets the extra panelling with the darker red, as seen in the book, and it adds a nice extra bit of flair to the figure.  In addition to the previously mentioned extra face plates, Adam also gets his blaster pistol, two pairs of hands, a display stand, and a collector card.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

McFarlane’s been really surprising me with the character choices in the last year with the license, so I can’t say I was expecting this one, but I also can’t say it was completely out of place.  Adam Strange has a fantastic, classic look, begging for some solid action figure coverage, and up until now his figures have tended to just be kind of okay.  This one’s honestly a lot better than “just kind of okay.”  He’s downright good, and the best Adam Strange figure out there.  Just a solid offering all around.

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.

#3874: Silver Surfer

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

SILVER SURFER

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOY BIZ)

On Friday, I admitted to the great lie I perpetrated back during the first month of reviews here on the site. That I hadn’t *actually* reviewed the Toy Biz Fantastic Four Silver Surfer. So, to make up for this horrible thing I’ve done, today I do what I claimed to do 12 years ago, and review that Toy Biz Fantastic Four Silver Surfer. Let’s do this.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Silver Surfer was released in the first series of Toy Biz’s Fantastic Four line. He was ostensibly meant to tie-in with the show, but also it’s kind of a general purpose Surfer design, so it easily goes either way. The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation. His mold is the same one I looked at before, though it originated here (and was shared with the hastily added Human Torch from the same series). It’s good, but does feel perhaps a little small. For the original release, he was done up in a bright, very shiny chrome, which feels more in line which the character’s usual depictions. It holds up pretty well, and also manages to not totally remove all of the sculpted detailing, which marked an improvement on the Marvel Super Heroes version. He was packed with his board, which again matches his finish, and again has the slipper looking spots for his feet. He also gets the ring attachment for the bottom.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, I had the CD-ROM figure and the 10-inch figure, but never this guy. I honestly never felt the need, since my bases were covered by the others. But, as I delve further into a proper complete run of these, I realize my bases were in fact *not* covered. Thankfully, a proper Series 1 figure came into All Time a little while back, allowing proper coverage of the bases once more!

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.