#3834: Lobo

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

LOBO

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

“Lobo is crude, rude and nearly impossible to kill. The super-tough bounty hunter wanders the cosmos on his space bike, flying from one assignment to another, with plenty of pit stops at local alien bars along the way!”

When I find myself in times of trouble, Todd McFarlane comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, “Super Powers”…. No?  Not working for you guys?  Yeah, I was iffy on it myself.  But, I decided to go with it, and here we are.  Congrats on getting here with me.  Today’s Super Powers focus goes a bit more modern…sort of.  Well, post-original run…sort of.  It’s a bit of a wibbly-wobbly thing.  See, it’s Lobo, who, in the form most people know, didn’t exist until the end of the ’80s.  But, he was introduced, albeit in a rather different form, in 1983.  So, you know, there’s something there, I guess.  Anyway, here’s Lobo.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Lobo is the final of the “standard” release figures from Series 10 of McFarlane’s Super Powers.  He’s another new character for the style, and honestly, on the rather short list of proper Lobo figures.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  First and foremost, this figure is *huge*.  Like, the largest Super Powers figure thus far.  Lobo is traditionally a larger character, but not usually to this level.  I mean, he towers over Darkseid.  That feels a bit off.  But, hardly terrible.  Lobo re-uses the torso from Kilowog, along with an all-new head, arms, and legs.  It’s not a bad sculpt, and it certainly looks the part, but it doesn’t really feel like it matches the usual Super Powers aesthetic.  So, he sort of just exists a bit as his own thing.  I don’t hate it, but it’s different.  The vest is cloth, which is a nifty touch, and is the one thing that definitely feels like it’s trying for the Super Powers aesthetic.  Lobo’s color work is respectable enough.  He’s definitely got some DCAU vibes on the palette, which I definitely don’t mind.  The paint application’s basic and clean, and does generally what it needs to. 

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve never been a *huge* Lobo fan.  To date, the only figure I’ve ever owned of him was the Minimate, and that was largely because he came with Ambush Bug.  I do like his DCAU appearances well enough, so I don’t hate him outright.  I wasn’t sure I was gonna get this guy when he was announced, because he doesn’t quite feel like he fits the general vibe of the line.  But, I ultimately decided I’d rather get him and not potentially regret missing him later.  He’s decidedly a different vibe than the rest of the line, but I think it works okay, and he’s still a very fun figure.

#3833: Savage Wolverine & Crawler-Rex

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

SAVAGE WOLVERINE & CRAWLER-REX

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“The X-Men find themselves mysteriously transported to the Savage Land a prehistoric tropical jungle in the middle of the Arctic circle! With the help of their friend and leader of the Savage Land, Ka-Zar, the X-Men weave their way through this treacherous land. Aided by dinosaurs and other prehistoric beasts, Storm, Wolverine, Angel and Joseph have their hands full throughout their dangerous journey.

More animal than man, the savage Wolverine finds himself right at home in the Savage Land. Wielding bone claws and a feral, animal-like instinct, Wolverine slashes his way through trouble. A fierce fighter, Wolverine finds himself a prehistoric partner to match his toughness. The Crawler Rex’s jaw-chomping action together with Wolverine’s fighting skills make the two of them one ferocious team.”

Okay, we had a brief run-back to some old Toy Biz, and now we’re back at…some old Toy Biz.  Keeping the theme from last week’s main review, I’m plunging deep into the depths of the Savage Land!  In addition to Ka-Zar, there were also a bunch of regular rank-and-file X-Men with special X-tra “Savage” gear.  And, since you can’t very well do *anything* with the X-Men without Wolverine, here he is!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Savage Wolverine and Crawler-Rex are the third of the five “Savage Land” sets released in Toy Biz’s X-Men line in 1997.  As with all the other sets in the line, it pairs off the main figure with a larger creature.

Savage Wolverine admittedly takes things to a further departure than the other two X-Men in the line-up, because it’s dialing into a very specific era of Wolverine, following the removal of his adamantium and then the subsequent secondary mutation that made him more feral, and also cost him his nose.  It was surprisingly scarce in toy form; Toy Biz just did this one and the Onslaught series release.  The figure stands about 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  While he doesn’t actually share any direct tooling with Wolverine Unleashed (as he’s actually in scale with the main line, more or less, rather than towering over them like all the others), the general aesthetics are very similar, as is the posing, suggesting they may have started from a common point.  It’s incredibly exaggerated and silly looking, but that’s honestly, pretty much on point for this era of Wolverine.  The color work is fine enough; I do quite like the accenting on the bone armor parts in particular.  Wolverine is without any actually accessories for himself, instead relying on his creature buddy.

Said creature buddy is Crawler-Rex.  While Angel and Ka-Zar both got an actual established character for their pack-in creature, Wolverine instead just gets a rather generic dinosaur…thing.  It’s supposed to be a T-rex sort of thing, I guess, but it’s certainly more on the cartoony side of things.  That head’s super large, which is some what comical looking, and he’s got an action feature where his jaw chomps…which doesn’t make him look any less comical, to be honest.  His color work is honestly pretty fun.  Still sort of goofy, but that’s hardly a problem.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I recall seeing this one back when the sets were new, but by 1997, I was rather Wolverine-d out, even for one that was, admittedly, pretty unique.  Now that I’m in the midst of trying to actually finish out the Toy Biz run, obviously, I can’t very well get Wolverine-d out, now can I?  I was a tiny bit bummed this figure wasn’t in the haul that brought the Day of the Wolverines upon us, but I ultimately got him very recently, when in the midst of searching for a Ka-Zar set, I found a lot with all the sets I was missing.  This one’s okay, but perhaps not quite as fun as the others in the assortment.  Still, it’s got that good goofy vibe I love.

Flashback Figure Addendum #0023: Rogue

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

ROGUE

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

Gonna go back to the Addedums even when it’s not a Friday!  Why, because, for right now at least, the Figure Addendums are a sub-feature of my Marvel Monday’s, that’s why!  Today, though, it’s first Addendum for this item, rather than being the second, and sending us all into some sort of crazy world.  Let’s jump back to 2017 for a follow-up look at Rogue!

Another non-newest series of X-Men Marvel Legends X-Men figure? Does this mean Ethan’s still looking for that freaking Cyclops figure? No, actually. Ethan found that freaking Cyclops figure yesterday afternoon. He was very excited about that freaking Cyclops figure. But, he also needs some time to properly appreciate those figures before jumping into the reviews. Still, X-Men on the brain and all that, so let’s take a look at the back catalogue again. We’re going even further back this time, and pulling out one of the old Toy Biz 5-inch figures. Let’s look at Rogue!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Rogue was released in Series 6 of Toy Biz’s X-Men line, and was by far the most popular figure in the series. She was actually quite rare for some time, but was eventually re-released as part of the KB Toys-exclusive Marvel Universe line. The two figures are more or less identical. I think mine may actually be the re-release, since the timelines line up best that way. The figure stands 5 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation. The articulation count is a bit lower than other figures TB was producing at the time, mostly due to the upper cut action feature on her left arm, which removes the neck movement (to allow for the lever that activates the feature) and the left elbow movement. It also limits the left shoulder a bit. Not really sure why they opted to go for such an intrusive feature. Rogue sported an all-new sculpt (which would later be re-used for Polaris). It’s fairly standard for the time. Nothing super amazing, but it’s a decent enough recreation of her Jim Lee look. Her proportions are a bit weird; her hairs is really small, and her legs seem to make up a larger portion of her body than they should. She’s also a bit on the boxy side. But, like I said, fairly standard for the time, so I can’t judge it too harshly. Missing from my figure is her add-on belt, which replicated her wacky asymmetrical thing from the comics. Yay for asymmetry! Rogue’s paint work is decent enough. Everything is applied pretty cleanly and all of the important details are there. I will say I’ve always found this figure’s color palette to be a bit washed out and dull. I guess the cartoon and future figures just have made me expect this costume to be a bit warmer. Rogue included no accessories, not even the weird ‘90s blaster thing that Toy Biz seemed to give to all of the other figures who they couldn’t think of anything better to give to. Alas, I suppose she’ll just have to steal one from one of the other figures.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Rogue was one of the last “main X-Men” I got when I was growing up. Most of the others had seen one or two re-releases, so getting them wasn’t too prohibitive. I actually ended up getting the 10-inch version of her first. Ultimately, I’m pretty sure I ended up with the Universe re-release when it hit. I think she was a Christmas present from my parents if I’m not mistaken, likely from our first Christmas in the house I spent most of my childhood in. She may not be the best Rogue figure I own, or even the first Rogue figure I owned, but I was really happy to get her when she was new.

This review is from the period of time when I was actively hunting for the Warlock Series of Marvel Legends in the spring of 2017.  I had just found the Jim Lee Cyclops, who was the last figure I needed in the set, so I was very excited, and very definitely in an X-Men review.  This was also while I was living several states away from most of my collection, so Rogue here was actually reviewed remotely.  I don’t really do that sort of thing anymore.  Since this review, I did manage to find a belt for her, finally completing her whole look.  It’s a minor touch, but it adds a lot.  In the process, I also got a whole variant to this figure!  There are actually four *different* versions of the original Rogue figure, all concerning the color of her eyes, how many lashes she has, and whether or not she has eyeshadow.  My original is the light green eyes with four lashes and no eyeshadow version, but the one that I bought to get the replacement belt is the dark green eyes with four lashes as eyeshadow version.  I don’t know if I’ll be going to the trouble of getting the two three-lash versions, so I’m counting this as complete for now!

#3832: Bantha & Tusken Raider

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

BANTHA & TUSKEN RAIDER

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

I’ve had a surprisingly low count of Tusken Raider-related reviews here.  Just the two of them, it looks like.  Huh.  Well, I guess I never had a crazy attachment to them before they’re much more positive focus in The Mandalorian and Book of Boba Fett, which actually gave them a culture beyond “crazy nomad beast men only there to antagonize the good guys.”  The Tusken Raiders were honestly kind of sparse early on in the toy coverage.  There was one during the vintage run, and then a single release during Power of the Force, which was finally joined by a second, deluxe release with a creature.  So, let’s look at that second one today!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The Bantha and the Tusken Raider were released in 1998 as part of the larger “creature” sub-set of Kenner’s Star Wars: Power of the Force.  ’98 broke the mold a bit and did slightly larger creatures at a higher price-point, giving us both the Bantha and the previously reviewed Rancor.  This one’s not *quite* as large as the Rancor, but he does some other things to justify the higher price.

This was, I believe, the first Bantha figure, which is pretty nifty.  It’s quite sizable (and generally seems to be pretty well scaled to the line), but notably not crazy poseable.  You can move the neck, but that’s about it.  Otherwise, he’s just a big, solid chonk.  Not a big solid chonk of plastic, mind you, because they went the extra mile and give this guy an actual fur main.  It’s…well, there’s certainly a lot of it.  And it’s just begging to get all gross.  Which, I suppose, would probably be accurate to the real thing, I guess.  It’s certainly a unique look for the piece, and undoubtedly sells the Bantha look.  Under all the hair, there’s a largely rudimentary sculpt, but there are also enough visible details to keep him fairly interesting to look at.  He includes a plastic harness piece, which clips over top of it all, and sort of holds the hair in place a bit, as well as giving the included Tusken Raider figure a place to sit.

Said included Tusken Raider was the second for the line.  He’s pretty different from the single release.  Obviously, based on the same general look, but the approach has changed.  The figure’s still about 3 3/4 inches tall, but now there are 10 points of articulation.  This one adds both knee joints and thigh swivels, so as to aid in more properly sitting on the bantha.  Likewise, the lower portion of the robes are now cloth, so that sitting is actually possible.  The sculpt is also just a bit sharper, and better defined than the original, generally making for a better overall figure.  He includes the usual Gadaffi Stick, which he holds pretty nicely in his left hand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The creature sets largely passed me by as a kid.  This one’s been on my list for a bit, but the later run creatures aren’t as plentiful.  Thankfully, I was patient, and one landed in front of me at work.  It was boxed, but not sealed, so pricing was in my favor, and also it wasn’t gross, so that was in my favor too.  The Bantha certainly makes an impression on the shelf, and the included Raider is pretty solid too, so it’s kind of an all around win.

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.

#3831: Superman – Classic Animation (1940)

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

SUPERMAN — CLASSIC ANIMATION (1940)

DC MULTIVERSE (McFARLANE)

Back to DC?  So soon?  Well, I regret to inform you that it’s *not* Super Powers today.  But, I do think it’s still pretty cool, and it concerns one of my other areas of interest, animation!  I’ve touched only briefly on Fleischer Studios here on the site.  They were a pioneer in the field of animation, rivaling Disney during the golden age, and in many ways beating them to the punch on a lot of things.  They had a great deal of success with their in-house properties, but also got into the adaptation game in 1933, when they began a run of shorts starring Popeye.  In 1941, their main financial backer Paramount had purchased the rights to Superman, and proposed a series of animated theatrical shorts.  Not initially wanting to take on the gig, Fleischer asked for an insane $100,000 a short, but when Paramount countered at $50,000, they accepted.  The result was not only one of the finest pieces of animation to come out of the golden age, but also an incredibly influential take on the title character, inspiring the likes of Alex Ross and Bruce Timm, as well as adding the power of flight to the character’s roster of abilities.  The rights for the shorts have been all over the place, and they ultimately went into the public domain back in the ’60s. Toy coverage for the shorts has been generally scarce. Mezco did a 5Points set a few years ago, and there was a statue from DC Direct. It’s McFarlane that finally gave us some figure coverage, first as a Super Powers redeco, and now as a proper 7-inch figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superman is a standard-sized release from McFarlane’s DC Multiverse line.  He’s not a single, instead being rolled into a larger assortment with a couple of unrelated characters.  Though referred to by *everyone* as “Fleischer Superman,” he’s officially titled “Classic Animation (1940),” with no specific studio mention.  In a way, this actually makes him more accurate than you might think, as only 9 of the 17 shorts were actually produced by Fleischer, with the other 8 being done by their successors at Famous Studios after Fleischer dissolved.  On the flipside, though, it specifies 1940, when the cartoons didn’t start their run until 1940.  Also, all the illustrations are specifically comic-based, so the whole thing is likely some sort of legal thing.  The figure stands 7 1/2 inches tall and he has 37 points of articulation.  Superman is built on the Earth-2 Superman mold from the Crisis set.  He was originally shown on the Action Comics #1000 mold, which isn’t great, but Todd actually listened to fan feedback and moved him to the more recent set-up.  I gotta say, I really like it.  It’s quite clean and the proportions are pretty well balanced.  It also especially works for this era of the character.  He gets a new head sculpt, which is quite solid.  It’s a good match for the animation, not being too simple or too detailed, and it sits really well on the body.  He gets a cloth cape, which is fairly similar to the one on the Reeve Superman.  It’s a solid work, and the wires are quite strong, which is great for posing.  His color work does a pretty respectable job matching up to the colors from the cartoons.  The paint’s a bit minimal, but it does what it needs to.  I particularly like the squinty eyes.  Superman is packed with two sets of hands, in fists and flat, as well as a display stand and a card with decidedly not Fleischer Superman on it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m a huge Fleischer fan, because, as noted above, I’m something of an animation geek.  The Superman cartoons are really their finest work, and remain favorites of mine.  I almost went for the Mezco figures, but they were out of my price range at the time they jumped.  I got the Super Powers figure, and he’s fine, but not really on the mark.  This one was one I knew I wanted immediately.  He’s genuinely the best Superman McFarlane’s put on the market, though that’s admittedly a more loaded statement than it used to be, because suddenly they figured out to make a Superman right before the end?  I don’t know, but I’m loving it.

#3830: Blue Time Force Ranger

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

BLUE TIME FORCE RANGER

POWER RANGERS: LIGHTNING COLLECTION (HASBRO)

Way back in 2020, I discussed my last true hurrah with Power Rangers, Power Rangers: Time Force.  It’s a show that resonated pretty well with me, and ranks as probably my fourth favorite iteration of the series (after Space, Zeo, and Mighty Morphin, in that order).  I brought it up during its introduction into Lightning Collection, which, as it turned out, was also most of its presence in Lightning Collection, since they did Red, and then had a rather large gap.  The only other team member, added not too long before Hasbro wrapped up the line, was Blue.  I guess I’m okay with that.  Here he is!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Blue Time Force Ranger was added to Power Rangers: Lightning Collection in 2023, as part of a deluxe offering that included both the figure and his time cycle.  Today’s review is just of the figure, since I do not have the time cycle.  I apologize to all the time cycle enthusiasts on that one.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  His assembly and articulation set up is very similar to Time Force Red, with the only major change-up being the removal of the visible pins on his elbows and knees.  Two figures in the line-up, and they don’t even have internal consistency.  Oh, Lightning Collection.  Otherwise, it’s all very similar.  Honestly, the Time Force Red sculpt was quite a nice offering, and lacked some of the weirdness of the MMPR-based bodies, so it’s actually a pretty solid starting point.  It’s pretty sleek and clean, and looks the part well.  His paint work is the main differentiating thing, of course, with the major palate swap for the coloring, as well as the tweaked shaping on the visor.  It all looks quite sharp, and the application’s generally well handled.  He’s packed with the same Chrono Blaster and Sabers as Red, as well as his own unmasked head, and hands in fists and gripping.  And that’s all without the Bike parts!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Early in Lightning Collection, when Time Force Red hit, I was genuinely planning to get the whole line-up.  As we progressed, that plan shrank down to maybe just this guy and the Quantum Ranger.  Well, it became clear Quantum Ranger wasn’t getting made, and then this guy got bundled with the cycle, which I didn’t really need.  But, Max ended up wanting the cycle, but not the figure, setting us up for one of our classic Ethan-and-Max-split-a-set-they-both-don’t-need-to-be-splitting-but-they’re-doing-it-anyway situations.  Ah, the good ol’ EAMSASTBDNTBSBTDIA set-up.  Ultimately, he’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect from a late-run Lightning Collection figure, which is to say very solid and by the numbers.

#3829: Robin – Jason Todd

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

ROBIN — JASON TODD

SUPER POWERS (McFARLANE)

“Jason Todd was the second Robin and easily the most troubled. Angry and with a desperate need to prove himself, Jason’s impulsive behavior led to his death at the hands of The Joker.”

Hey, we’re back in the Super Powers realm again!  Back when I reviewed the original Kenner Robin, I discussed how, even though it was clearly Dick Grayson Robin, Dick had actually given up the mantle in the comics, with Jason Todd having stepped in as Dick’s successor the very year the figure was released.  Despite all that, Jason didn’t get a figure in the vintage line, nor was he slated to in the abandoned series.  In fact, Jason’s never even gotten a proper figure from his time as Robin.  McFarlane to the rescue, I guess.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Robin – Jason Todd is part of Series 10 of McFarlane’s Super Powers continuation.  He’s the third Robin in this continuation, the other two having been Tim Drake variants.  He’s also part of the generally new character heavy Series 10, which is generally pretty cool.  The figure stands 4 1/4 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  His mold is largely new; he’s re-using the torso from Tim Drake, but is otherwise new.  The new mold is clearly patterned on the vintage Robin, but with a few minor tweaks, just to keep things a little more diverse.  He’s got a unique head, and it’s honestly a rather nice piece.  It gives Jason his proper spit curls, as well as a generally more sullen expression than the other two.  Honestly, I think it’s the best of the three Robin heads.  He’s got a cloth cape, which is notably longer than Dick’s; generally, that was the case in the comics, though it was rarely as pronounced as seen here.  Still, I don’t mind the larger separation in sizes, since it further differentiates a bit more.  Jason’s color work is generally decent.  He’s a little shifted from the vintage colors, but not especially so, and it fits in well with the rest of the line.  It’s very clean in its application at the very least.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

With the addition of Nightwing early in the McFarlane line, I sort of informally considered just repurposing the vintage Robin as Jason, but there’s enough differences there that it doesn’t quite work.  So, the announcement of a proper Jason was pretty cool.  I gotta say, it’s not a drastically different figure, but it’s a good one, and dare I say a better figure than the vintage Robin?  Blasphemy? Perhaps, but that’s the vibe I’m hitting.

#3828: Ka-Zar & Zabu

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

KA-ZAR & ZABU

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“The X-Men find themselves mysteriously transported to the Savage Land a prehistoric tropical jungle in the middle of the Arctic circle!  With the help of their friend and leader of the Savage Land, Ka-Zar, the X-Men weave their way through this treacherous land.  Aided by dinosaurs and other prehistoric beasts, Storm, Wolverine, Angel and Joseph have their hands full throughout their dangerous journey.

Native and leader of the Savage Land, Ka-Zar rules his prehistoric kingdom with his faithful sidekick, Zabu. An expert fighter, hunter and tracker, nothing dares to threaten Ka-Zar. Zabu, the saber-tooth tiger, is ready to protect his master with his two massive razor-sharp teeth and huge paws. Ka-Zar and Zabu rule the Savage Land side-by-side keeping all its prehistoric beasts in order and safe from outside attacks.”

So, remember waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back at the beginning of the site when I reviewed Savage Land Angel?  And then, like, at the middle point between then and now, when I did an addendum about Savage Land Angel?  And then this morning when I did a *second* addendum about Savage Land Angel?  Great.  Well, what you may not know about Savage Land Angel from the three times I’ve focussed on him here on the site is that he was part of a larger set of Savage Land-themed figures, of which there are four more.  Guess what my Monday Marvel theme is gonna be this month!  That’s right, the rest of those guys.  Alright!  So, let’s look at the Savage-Land-iest of the bunch, Ka-Zar and Zabu!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Ka-Zar and Zabu make up the second of the five sets in the “Savage Land” Series of Toy Biz’s X-Men line.  These were a larger boxed series from 1997, which paired off with the thematically opposite “Space Riders” Series from the same year.  While the Riders each got a large space vehicle, each figure in the “Savage Land” set was packed with a larger beast of some sort.  In the case of Ka-Zar, his was by far the most sensible, as he paired off with his “brother” the sabretooth tiger Zabu.  This would mark the first time either character saw action figure treatment, but not the last, as Hasbro’s now tackled them twice as Legends.

Ka-Zar is the more conventional figure in the set.  He’s based on that usual off-brand Tarzan look, which makes sense.  The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  He’s built on a variation of the Archangel II mold, a favorite of Toy Biz’s during the 5-inch era.  That being said, he actually gets a fair bit of new and reworked parts.  The head is outright new, and it’s certainly dynamic.  That hair’s just jutting straight out to the side there, isn’t it?  He’s also got quite an intense, almost crazed look in his eyes.  Wow.  I don’t know that I’d be super comforted by this guy being my ally in a place called the Savage Land, but I’m also not an X-Man.  His torso is modified, removing the wing-flapping apparatus that most uses of the mold sported, which is actually really nice.  He also gets modified lower arms and legs.  Now his hands are actually gripping, and he’s got bare feet, as well as some anklets, you know, for properly accessorizing.  He also gets an add-on piece for his loin cloth, which you can remove if you want, but why would you?  Why would you do that?  Ka-Zar’s paint work’s actually pretty fun.  He’s got those crazy eyes, of course, but also some tribal markings, to keep him a little more interesting.  Ka-Zar is packed with a shield, a spear, and an axe.  The shield has storage for both weapons, which is very fun indeed.

Zabu is, in essence, a glorified accessory, I suppose.  He’s bigger than Ka-Zar, of course, but only sort of articulated, since most of his movement is tied into his action feature.  His sculpt’s certainly very stylized, but in such a way that he feels pretty much right at home with the general Toy Biz Marvel vibe.  There’s a lot of neat detailing going on, and I do like the fur texturing.  His paint’s basic, and the shades of orange on the differing plastics don’t match up perfectly, but it’s not terrible.  He’s got a “pounce” feature, where his back legs are sort of spring loaded, so sitting him down leads to him “pouncing” back up.  It’s rudimentary, and basic, and stupid, and I absolutely love it to no end.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Toy Biz Marvel is my one true love when it comes to Marvel toys.  Heck, toys in general, really.  I could leave everything else behind, but Toy Biz Marvel would be difficult.  So, I’m trying to more properly appreciate my Toy Biz Marvel collection, and that means putting them up in a more proper display.  While going through things that were not on display, I came across my Legends Ka-Zar and Zabu, and asked myself that ever important question “am I ever going to display these?”  The answer was no, and I realized that, as nice as they were, if I wasn’t going to display them, then why was I keeping them.  The simplest answer was that I didn’t own this set yet.  So, I fixed that with a sensibly priced eBay purchase, and here we are.  These are not as technically impressive as the Legends, but I love them ever so much more, so I’m glad I finally tracked them down.

Flashback Figure Addendum #0022: Savage Land Angel

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

SAVAGE LAND ANGEL

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

Oh man, are we bringing back the Addendums?  Yeah we are!  With the twist that it’s not Friday.  And why’s that? Because I’m doing a thematic thing here.  But, perhaps the craziest part of this Addendum is the fact that I’ve run an Addendum for this review before.  Crazy, right?  Super crazy.  So, let’s jump, for a third time, into the crazy world of Savage Land Angel!

The 90s X-Men line!  Now there was a line.  I haven’t really looked at this line yet on the site, aside from the Original Members Boxed Set, which wasn’t actually part of the line.  But in the 90s, the X-Men were the big thing.  They had a TV show, their comics sold millions, and they had one of the most comprehensive toy lines to date.  There was a Cho’d action figure for God’s sake!  Towards the end of the line, they began to run out of new characters to release, so they started doing these theme waves with rereleases of the main characters.  One of those theme waves was a set of figures based on the X-Men’s many trips to the Savage Land.  It featured figures of the X-Men in tattered “Savage Land” uniforms.  Today, I’ll be looking at the Angel figure from that line.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

So, as I said above, Angel here hails from the Savage Land series of Toy Biz’s 5-inch X-Men line.  He stands roughly 5 inches tall and has 11 points of articulation.  If you read the review of the Fallen, you’ve seen a lot of this figure before.   He shares all but his head, arms and feet with that figure.  The head was actually one that saw frequent reuse over at Toy Biz, and I know this wasn’t the first figure to use it, but I honestly don’t know what was.   Anyway, it works fine here, though it might be a bit scowly for a pre-Archangel Warren Worthington.  The figure’s look is mostly done through paint, which depicts a tattered version of Angel’s blue and white costume from the silver age*.   It’s cool to see this costume here, but a bit disappointing that the costume never got a proper release.  Angel at one point featured a pair of (very small) wings, a gray vest with an X-logo, and some weird claw thing that attached to his wrist, but I lost most of those pieces many years ago.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this figure on one of my many trips the KB Toys outlet in Rehoboth Beach.  I was very excited to get it because Angel figures were a bit of a rarity in the 90s.  I know I really liked this guy, and for reasons I can’t fathom at this point, I know he spent a lot of time in my Ghostbusters Ecto-1.

And, in my last addendum did I have to say?

Well, that’s not an awful review.  Still a bit shorter than the average review nowadays, but not horribly so.  I actually listed off all of the relevant information for the figure, and even referenced re-used parts and everything (though, rather amusingly, the Fallen pieces I referenced weren’t even discussed in my The Fallen review).

When I last reviewed this figure, he was missing both of his wings and the little wrist claw, both of which were returned to him during The Find.  The wings are rather on the small side, but detailed nicely enough.  I’m not really even sure what the claw supposed to be, but there it is.  Still missing is the grey cloth vest.  Also, I didn’t mention this previously, but each figure in the Savage Land series included a creature figure of some sort.  Angel included a small Sauron figure, which I still haven’t found.  Maybe he’ll turn up one of these days and I can write a *second* addendum.

Okay, so not so bad.  Addressed the review issues and changes.  Brought up what was missing the first time around, and also what I found during The Find.  Man, The Find was a hell of a thing.  I’ve had no major finds like that since, but I’ve resorted to actually buying replacement parts as I find them, which has led to the second addendum, which I even brought up in the first addendum!  So, now I’ve got the vest and the miniature Sauron figure.  The vest is super basic, but there it is.  Sauron is definitely much more gimicky than his single release.  He’s got a wing-flapping action, so there’s that.  He’s kind of not built for standing on his own, or anything, so he’s gotta be propped up on something.  And now, here’s the whole complete thing.  No additional Addendums needed!

#3827: Wicket & Logray

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

WICKET & LOGRAY

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE (KENNER)

Here we are, back at the Star Wars!  I’m doing this thing where I jump back and forth between Power of the Force and not-Power of the Force, and last month was a not-Power of the Force month, so we’re back on the Power of the Force!  I sure did say “Power of the Force” a lot there, didn’t I?  One of the neat things about Power of the Force was its aim at a sense of value.  The vintage line would sell you everyone at the same price point, regardless of relative sizing, but for the follow-up, Kenner was a bit more experimental.  For notably small guys, like the Jawas, the Ugnaughts, or, in fact today’s focus, the Ewoks, they were nice enough to give you two figures for the price of one!  How kind!  Let’s look at Wicket and Logray!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wicket and Logray were added to Kenner’s Star Wars: Power of the Force line in 1998, in the midst of the Freeze Frame era.  Wicket was actually technically a re-release, having appeared in the Princess Leia Collection the prior year, but Logray was totally new.  Wicket stands about 2 1/2 inches tall and has 5 points of articulation.  Logray stands almost 1/2 an inch taller, but keeps the same movement.  Both figures are far from super posable.  The necks are quite restricted, especially on Wicket, with his hood and all, while the hip joints are ultimately not super useful for much more than some fine tuning to keep them standing.  They are at least pretty stable on their feet, so there’s at least that.  The sculpts are also pretty nice overall.  I like the head gear being actually separate parts, and the fur detailing is solid for the era and style.  Of the two, I think Wicket’s the slightly stronger sculpt, but they’re both decent renditions of the look from the movie.  Paint work’s not too bad on either figure.  They both get a bit of variation on the fur.  It again works a bit better on Wicket; Logray looks a bit like he’s wearing striped pajamas.  Hey, at least it’s unique.  Both figures get their own accessory, Wicket getting his spear, and Logray his staff.  There’s also the Freeze Frame slide, for those that are interested in such things.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Would you believe me if I said I don’t actually recall getting these?  I know I got them from All Time, some time after I well and truly committed to this whole buying the entire run thing, but I think I may have gotten them in a batch with some other figures?  I’m pretty sure I got them sealed and then opened them during one of my bouts of needing to open things to feel better.  They’re not bad.  Honestly, it’s hard to mess up an Ewok, so good on them for not doing that?

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.