#1894: Princess Leia – Bespin Escape

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

PRINCESS LEIA — BESPIN ESCAPE

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“Princess Leia Organa was one of the Rebel Alliance’s greatest leaders, fearless on the battlefield and dedicated to ending the tyranny of the Empire. With her quick-thinking and inspired leadership, Leia ranks among the the galaxy’s great heroes.”

For a number of reasons, December has a tendency to put me in a rather Star Wars-y sort of mood.  Be it the fact that three of the last four films have hit this month, or how I tend to make watching the Original Trilogy an annual occurrence, or perhaps just the fact that I have a tendency to get a lot of Star Wars stuff around the holiday season, whatever the case, I’m certainly in a Star Wars-y mood today.  So, in a vaguely holiday spirit, I’m taking a look at this Leia figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Princess Leia — Bespin Escape is a Target-exclusive entry in The Black Series.  She first started showing up intermittently in the early fall, but seems to have been arriving in full force in the last couple of weeks.  This version of Leia is an oft-overlooked variant from the climax of Empire, during her, Lando, and Chewie’s chase to re-claim the frozen Han Solo.  It’s really just a dressing down of her main Hoth gear that she wears for the majority of the film.  It’s the similarity between those two that generally causes this one to be overlooked.  Nevertheless, its presence during a fairly important section of the film makes it a reasonable choice for a figure, especially an exclusive one.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Her scaling matches perfectly with the ANH figure, which is a nice bit of internal consistency that we don’t always see in this line.  Her sculpt is totally new, but hasn’t remained unique to her, thanks to the almost concurrent release of the proper Hoth Leia.  Regardless of origin and uniqueness, it’s a strong sculpt.  The head sculpt has the strongest Carrie Fisher likeness we’ve seen to date for this line (or any of the smaller ones, for that matter), and they’ve even nicely translated her hair braids.  I imagine this head will be seeing a re-use at some point for a Bespin Gown variant, or at least I sure hope it will.  Mine has an unfortunate error on her left ear, with a small chunk missing out of the lobe, but it’s fortunately not super noticeable.  The jumpsuit’s sculpt is nice and crisply detailed, and looks appropriately like a garment she’s been running around in for a substantial amount of time.  The paintwork on Leia is largely pretty basic; the jumpsuit’s just molded white plastic, and they’ve let the sculpt do all the lifting.  This is one of those times I don’t mind the lack of accenting, as accenting on white can go very badly very quickly.  She does get the printed face; she’s the first Leia to get this treatment, and it works very well for her.  I especially like how they handled the hairline, which is a frequent slip-up on such figures.  Leia is somewhat sparsely packed, with just a stolen Stormtrooper blaster alongside her.  It’s scene-accurate, of course, but something else would have maybe added some extra excitement.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Leia sort of just started showing up, without too much fanfare.  I wasn’t initially sure I was going to grab her, what with the Hoth Leia on the horizon.  However, I was at Target looking for something else, which I was unable to find, and when I came across Leia.  Determined not to let the trip be a waste and impressed by how the figure looked in person, I was swayed into getting her.  She’s a decent enough figure, but I will curious to see how she performs once the Hoth Leia is more readily available.  She’s really the sort of figure that is really aimed at the more hardcore collector.  Which, of course, is me.  So, hey, how about that.

#1893: Ant-Man

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

ANT-MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS VINTAGE (HASBRO)

“What matters most is not the size of the man in the fight, but the size of the fight in the man — and the bad guys take big hits from Ant-Man!”

A few weeks ago, I looked at *most* of the latest Vintage sub-series of Marvel Legends, but didn’t quite cover them all.  The two missing were Ant-Man and Hawkeye, and, while I still haven’t found a Hawkeye, I did manage to snag an Ant-Man.  So here he is!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ant-Man is another piece of the second series of the Marvel Legends Vintage line, and is the natural pairing to the Wasp figure from this same assortment.  The set hit stores right around the time of Ant-Man and the Wasp’s home media release, so I guess they were pretty sensibly timed.  In terms of the character he’s representing (that being a Hank Pym version of Ant-Man), he’s actually a first for Legends, though in terms of the actual figure, he follows the rest of the assortment’s trend of being a lot of revisited ground.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  Sculpturally, this Ant-Man is identical to the Walgreens-exclusive Black Ant from 2015.  Technically, it’s not a pitch-perfect translation, since the two designs hive some slight discrepancies, but it’s close enough that we’ve all pretty much been expecting this exact figure since Black Ant was first shown off.  That it took Hasbro so long to deliver it is the reals surprise.  His paintwork is the main difference, of course, as it returns Ant-Man to his classic red and blue.  It’s a striking combo, and the hues chosen are bold and eye-catching.  The silver for the helmet is just the raw color of the plastic, so it’s got that slight swirly effect going on, but it works alright for this particular design.  There are some slight flaws, most notably a spot of missing paint on the figure’s nose, but he overall looks pretty decent.  I was going to rag on this figure’s boots for being straight across the top and not jagged like his gloves, but a quick review of classic Ant-Man appearances shows that the boots were just as often depicted this way, so hey, Hasbro’s not wrong.  Since Ant-Man is designed to pair off with Wasp, he comes with the natural counterpoint to her mini Ant-Man accessory: a mini Wasp.  It’s the same one used twice before in the Marvel Universe line, but this time painted up to match the Wasp figure from this assortment.  I really do wish she had included a flight stand of some sort, but oh well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Ant-Man’s a figure I’ve been waiting for, and I certainly didn’t want to miss out on him.  That said, I was willing to be patient, even when he wasn’t among the first round of these figures I found.  Fortunately, the same connection that got me Vision and Wasp was also able to snag Hank for me, so now I’m one step closer to a complete set.  Though there’s not a lot of new going on with this figure, the starting point was already a pretty good figure in the first place, and the new colors definitely make him pop.

#1892: Wolverine II

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

WOLVERINE II

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“His super-sharp adamantium claws can slash through steel. His mutant healing ability can mend even the worst wounds in minutes. He’s Wolverine, the best at what he does and what he does best is fight Evil Mutants! With his keen senses of sight, smell and hearing, and his frighteningly fierce fighting style, enemies claim Wolverine is more animal than mutant. But his fellow X-Men know that he’s the best friend they have, especially when the going gets deadly dangerous!”

Did you know that wolverines use snow as refrigerators to keep their food fresh?  That’s your fun FiQ fact for today…’s Tiger Stripe Wolverine review.  You guys thought I was going to forget about the running gag, didn’t you?  Well, I didn’t!  Okay, let’s just take a look at the figure, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wolverine, or “Wolverine II” as he is referred to on all of the packaging, is part of the second series of Toy Biz’s X-Men line. The first series had used Wolverine’s then-current brown costume, but Logan had reverted back to an approximation of his classic look not too long after that figure’s release, so Toy Biz followed suit with this figure.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 10 points of articulation.  Wolverine’s sculpt was new to him, and would serve as the basis for a number of figures that would follow, including when it was up-scaled for the 10-inch Deluxe Edition figure (reviewed here).  While the smaller scale doesn’t quite serve the sculpt quite as well as the larger, but all of the basics are still there, and it’s still a pretty strong offering for the character.  He’s a little on the tall side for a proper Logan, but that was the trend of the time, and he’s certainly not as bad as some of the figures that would follow.  The primary differences between this figure and the larger one are to do with his claws and the raised lever on his back to allow for an “action feature” when spinning his torso.  The claws are an interesting choice.  They’re spring loaded, but since there’s no locking mechanism, they just pop right back into place.  Also, they’re stubby and curved, and the spring feature makes his forearms really boxy, so I’m not really sure it’s worth the tradeoff.  Wolverine’s paintwork is decent enough.  Fairly basic, and not without some slop, especially around the edges of the blue parts of the costume.  The black details also seem to extend a bit further into the rest of the costume than they traditionally do in the comics, but that’s rather minor.  Wolverine was packed with a gun, because, when you get down to it, isn’t that really Wolverine’s defining trait?  Having a gun?  Well, not my Wolverine, because his gun is missing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, this figure was *not* my first Wolverine.  That would be the Battle-Ravaged Wolverine from the Invasion Series, which was the current figure of Wolverine when I got into collecting.  The trouble with that figure, as cool as it is, arose when I got the Black Bird, which the larger Battle-Ravaged figure couldn’t actually fit inside of, meaning I really needed a smaller figure.  Around the time I got my Black Bird, my parents were in the process of buying a new house, and my dad was going back and forth many days getting things ready to move in.  I accompanied on many of those trips, Black Bird in tow, with only my Series 1 Cyclops in it, since he was the only one who actually fit.  On one of those days, my dad had to go and pick up carpet from the mall, where there was also a KB Toys.  In exchange for accompanying, my Dad bought me this guy (he also bought himself a Ch’od figure, because him also getting a figure was part of the ritual) to go with my Black Bird.  He stuck with me for the whole move in process at the new house.  Is he the best Wolverine ever?  Maybe not, but I do still really like him.

#1891: Amazo

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

AMAZO

DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS (MATTEL)

“Amazo is a powerful android capable of absorbing and mimicking the superpowers of the members of the Justice League of America. “Absorption cells” allow Amazo the ability to duplicate the power of any superhero he encounters, but is only able to use the powers of one super hero at any given time.”

Hey, this is convenient timing.  Just last week, the CW tv shows did their annual crossover event, “Elseworlds,” the first part of which prominently featured today’s figure in question, Amazo.  Amazo’s not a stranger to popular media, having previously appeared in both Justice League and its sequel series Justice League Unlimited.  That being said, JL and JLU rather drastically shifted the character’s design, so the casual fan might be forgiven for not quite making the connection.  “Elseworlds” used a variant of the classic design, which was pretty darn cool if you ask me.  Amazo’s actually a fairly frequent choice for various DC toy lines, including Mattel’s DC Universe Classics.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Amazo was released in Series 5 of DCUC.  It was a noteworthy series for the line, as the first Walmart-exclusive assortment and, by extension, the first assortment carried in Walmart.  It was also our first real taste of some of the worst the line was going to serve up to us, with accessories cut at the last minute, horrible distribution, and some pretty awful quality control.  Walmart had requested the assortment be produced as cheaply as possible, and Mattel delivered.  This figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 25 points of articulation.  Amazo’s a little on the small side for most depictions of the character, thanks to his sticking to the main male base body, another symptom of this assortment’s general lack of newer parts.  Amazo’s actually got one of those: his head.  It’s pretty basic, but matches the classic Doc Savage-esque design he’s been sporting for fifty some years.  He also gets the right hand from Green Lantern, since he’s typically seen replicating the ring.  It’s a sensible choice in theory, though in practice it means he has wrinkles on his hand, since the original piece was gloved.  I suppose it’s easy enough to explain away, what with him being an android and all.  Amazo’s paintwork is decent enough.  They’ve gone with his original costume, which is sensible, since it’s the most easily conveyed with just paint.  While my other Series 5 figure, Black Lightning, was all over the place in terms of paint quality, Amazo actually manages to keep it pretty clean and consistent.  Some of the stripes, especially at the top, are a little wobbly, but I’ve certainly seen worse.  Amazo was packed with one of the pieces to the Series 5 Collect-N-Connect Metallo…and that’s it.  Nothing character specific.  Not even the Wonder Woman lasso that they already had tooled for Series 4.  Sadly, Amazo was not alone on this front; there was exactly one proper accessory among all of the Series 5 figures.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Series 5 was legendarily hard to find at retail, with many regions reporting a single case of figures being put out, if any arrived at all.  Needless to say, I didn’t find a single one of them at retail.  To be totally fair, the line-up was so-so enough that I didn’t really look too hard, but I’ve warmed up to some of them over the years.  So, when All Time Toys got in someone’s DCUC collection and I fished Amazo here out of the bin, I was a pretty easy mark.  He’s an okay figure, but nothing to really right home about.  That said, he’s also a lot less flawed than I’d expected, given the assortment that spawned him.

Obviously, I bought All Time’s only figure of this guy, but they have a whole bunch of other DCUC figures listed on their eBay store.  And, if you’re in the market for something newer, please check out their website as well!

#1890: Imperial Assault Tank Driver

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

IMPERIAL ASSAULT TANK DRIVER

STAR WARS: THE VINTAGE COLLECTION (HASBRO)

The re-launch of The Vintage Collection after its six year hiatus was rather soft, with its first assortment being almost entirely re-releases from the Walmart-exclusive Black Series releases.  Only Snoke was new, but, honestly, who really cared that much.  Fortunately, the second assortment has flipped the script, with three new figures and only one re-issue.  I’ll be looking at one of new releases, and perhaps the most popular figure in the assortment today.  Without further ado, here’s the Imperial Assault Tank Driver!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Assault Tank Driver is one of the four figures in the second series of the re-launched Vintage Collection line, and is officially numbered VC126.  He’s based on the driver seen during the Jedha sequence of Rogue One.  It was one of the earliest figures we knew was coming from this line, as it was showcased alongside the line’s first vehicle, the Assault Tank.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and has 26 points of articulation.  From a sculpting standpoint, the Driver has a lot in common with the Walmart-exclusive Scarif Stormtrooper from the 2016 Rogue One assortment.  Given the similarities of the two designs, as well as the fact that the larger-scale figures did the same thing, it’s neither surprising, nor is it a bad choice.  The sculpt was a pretty strong one the first time around, and it remains so now (in general, those Rogue One sculpts were the best to come out of that iteration of The Black Series).  In order differentiate him a bit from his shore-dwelling brethren, the Tank Drive gets a new headsculpt and belt piece, patterned after his unique armor set.  The helmet is particularly sharp, and ends up being a notable improvement over the somewhat softer Scarif Trooper helmet.  We kind of saw this same thing occur with the main 3 3/4″ line’s versions of these two, so my guess is that the Driver’s helmet just better lends itself to a small-scale sculpt.  The Tank Driver’s paintwork is some of the best we’ve seen from Hasbro, especially at this scale.  They’ve used their printing technique to handle the weathering on the figure’s armor, which gives him a nice, worn appearance, matching the somewhat rundown nature of Jedha as we see it in the film.  It’s similar to, but distinctly different from, how things were handled with the Scarif Trooper, and it really gives the figure a lifelike quality.  The Tank Driver is packed with a standard Stormtrooper blaster. It’s molded in a solid grey, which was the slightest bit of a letdown when compared to the more detailed blaster we got with the Scarif Trooper.  But, if they’re gonna cut paint apps, I’d prefer they cut slightly less essential ones like these.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

He’s been somewhat hard to find, but I actually didn’t have any real trouble with this guy.  He was amongst the first case of them I found, about two months ago.  The Tank Driver is a strong design, and I’ve loved him the two prior times I’ve bought him in figure form.  This guy continues that trend, being another very solid offering in the more articulated Star Wars range.  I hope that going forward, this figure represents the trend of figures to come.

#1889: Rocket & Adam Warlock

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

ROCKET & ADAM WARLOCK

MARVEL MINIMATES

What’s this?  New Walgreens-exclusive Minimates?  And someone’s actually found them?  Crazy concept, I know.  Even though Series 8 and 9 have yet to show up in full force in many parts of the country, it would appear that Series 10 is starting to make its way out there.  Today, I’ll be looking at its Guardians of the Galaxy-themed set, featuring Rocket & Adam Warlock!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Rocket and Adam are one of the four sets in Series 10 of the Walgreens-exclusive animated sub-line of Marvel Minimates.  Both figures are based on their animated counterparts, but should fit in pretty well with most comics-inspired ‘mates as well.

ROCKET

Due to his smaller stature, the first two Rocket ‘mates we got weren’t proper ‘mates at all, but were instead unarticulated pack-ins.  Since Guardians Vol. 2 and Infinity War both gave us a proper figure for the MCU Rocket, it’s only fair that we’d also get an update to the animated Rocket (who can, of course, double for a Vol. 1 Rocket, for those so inclined).  Rocket is constructed from the same selection of pieces as the Infinity War release, so he uses the Series 71 head and belt/tail piece, the shortened child-sized arms, the IW legs, and the torso from NBX’s Sally.  For those keeping track, that means Rocket’s only “classic” Minimate piece is the pelvis, but unlike some overly sculpted figures we’ve seen in the past, Rocket still feels very true to the Minimate form, and fits well with his teammates.  As with the Infinity War release, this is my favorite selection of parts for the character.  Since cartoon Rocket is still wearing his orange jumpsuit from the first movie, that’s the look we get for this figure.  The paint translates it well, and while he’s definitely of a more animated style than his movie counterparts, I think they’ve left in enough details that he won’t look out of place with the movie stuff.  One slight change that stands out is the presence of actual, discernible pupils for Rocket, which I think are the one main thing to marks him as “animated.”  I actually like them a lot, as they add a little more life to the figure, I feel.  Rocket is packed with a repainted Nova Centurion blaster, as well as a clear display stand.  The Centurion blaster works a lot better for him than the two prior guns, so I’m happy with its inclusion, and I’m honestly just happy to see it crop up in another release.

ADAM WARLOCK

It’s been a good long while since we’ve gotten an Adam Warlock Minimate.  His first and only prior to this figure was part of the Infinity Gauntlet set from back in 2009.  Fortunately, his presence on the Guardians cartoon’s second season made him a prime choice for a spot in the line-up here.  Adam is constructed from three add-on pieces, used for his hair, shoulder pads, and belt.  They’re all re-used parts; the belt’s a standard piece, the hair’s from Archangel, and the shoulder pads are from the GSXM Nightcrawler.  The hair is perhaps not a 100% perfect match for his animated look, but it’s close enough, and the overall construction and choices of parts are well-thought-out.  The paintwork on Adam is cleanly applied and has a nice amount of pop to it.  He doesn’t look as washed out as a lot of the animated ‘mates end up looking, and even his details, especially on the face, are actually more in line with the comics-based ‘mates than the average animated ‘mate.  The highlight work on his infinity stone and the black portions of the costume really add some solid dimension to the whole figure as well.  The last Adam Warlock suffered from somewhat lackluster paint, but that’s very much not the case with this guy.  Adam’s only accessory is a clear display stand, which feels a little light.  An extra Magus head or even a flight stand would have been nice.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I happened upon this set back in November, at a Walgreens nearby a run that my mom and brother were participating in.  I wasn’t expecting to find them, since I haven’t seen anything from the two series that preceded this one, but the whole set was there.  I was only immediately interested in these two, so they were the only ones I bought.  Come to find out, I’m one of the first people to find them, and they aren’t officially hitting until the spring.  Now I’m kicking myself for not grabbing the whole set!  Oh well, I’ll just have to make due with these two.  The IW Rocket was my favorite version of the character, but this one’s edging him out on that front.  Another solid take on the charatcer.  The IG Warlock has been representing the character for almost a decade now without much issue, but for a character as prominent as Adam, it’s nice to get another chance, and the somewhat differing nature of his animated design makes for some nice variety, even if you have the previous release.  This figure’s got a lot going for him.  All in all, a pretty solid set.

#1888: Rust Lord

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

RUST LORD

FORTNITE (JAZWARES)

Oh man, let me tell you guys, today’s review?  It’s totally lit.  Like, it’s at peak levels of on-fleek-ness.  This review here?  It’s cool AF.  This is about the dankest review you’re ever gonna read.  I’m finna about to review this boi, which, I assure you, is not empty.  Yeet.  Stick with me fam, things are about to get hella turnt! …am I doing this right?  Is this how we talk about the Fortfight?  I’m sorry, I don’t have the 411 on what’s hip these days.  But, in an effort to get home with the downies, I got one of these here Fortniters to review.  Swag.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

So, homeslice here is Rust Lord, an absolute unite, who is one of the many available skins in Fortnite.  He’s a part of Jazwares Fortnite line, available exclusively in the “Llama Drama Loot Piñata” pack, which was the first item available from Jazwares’ line, first showing up on shelves at the beginning of the month.  The figure stands just shy of 4 inches tall and he has 28 points of articulation.  Stylistically, Rust Lord is very similar to Hasbro’s 25th Anniversary GI Joes, though perhaps a bit heftier.  He’ll fit in pretty well, though.  What surprised me most about this figure, though, was the articulation, which honestly is a bit of a step-up from the Joes, and even rivals the likes of Marvel Legends, but at a smaller scale.  Despite all of this articulation, the construction of the figure is still really solid, and he’s not flimsy at all.  Rust Lord’s design is definitely one that lends itself pretty well to a toy.  The figure changes up a few proportional elements, in order to make for a better translation to toy, but he’s actually pretty close.  The sculpt is clean and pretty sharp, which is honestly a fair bit better than I’m used to seeing with figures at this scale, even from the likes of Hasbro.  The paintwork for Rust Lord is fairly cleanly handled.  It’s pretty striking, and, like the sculpt, it will help him to match alright with Joes.  There are a handful of unpainted details here and there, but for the most part, he gets the job done.  Rust Lord himself only makes up a small piece of what’s included in the Loot Piñata.  There are also a whopping ten weapons*, four backpacks, and eight building plates.  For weapons, he has an assault rifle, bolt-action sniper rifle, drum gun, grenade launcher, legendary assault rifle, legendary burst assault rifle, light machine gun, pump shotgun, rocket launcher, and suppressed submachine gun.  Some of the sculpts are a little cartoony for my taste, but they’re mostly pretty solid pieces, and, like the main figure, they should do well arming your Joes and the like.  For the backpacks, he has the Bright Bag, Cuddle Bow, Satchel, and Scaly.  The satchel’s the only one that really matches up with the figure, but the options are nice nevertheless.  Lastly, there are the building plates.  Two sets of four line-up for some graffiti, and can be configured into all manner of different structures.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This is all Max from All Time’s fault.  A couple weeks ago, he told me about this set, showed me a few pictures of his and said “it’s kind of like G.I. Joe,” which was enough to sell me.  I’m an easy mark, I guess.  As someone with absolutely no experience with Fortnite, these figures weren’t even on my radar.  Doubly so when I found out they were produced by Jazwares, a company that I generally find to be the toy world’s equivalent of a yawn.  This figure has no right to be anywhere near as cool as it is, but I’ll be damned if this isn’t one of the coolest, most solidly crafted figures I’ve picked up as of late.  I’ve still got no attachment to Fortnite, but I’ll definitely be finding a spot for this guy with my Joes.

*My set actually had 11 weapons, thanks to me getting an extra drum gun in my set.  One of those few times an error totally worked out in my favor.

#1887: T-Rex

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

T-REX

HALFTOYS DINO SERIES (HALFTOYS)

“T-REX is part of a family of unique creatures that live in a place called Halfworld.  They roam freely in search of new friends.  Help bring the family together by collecting them all!”

I don’t talk about dinosaurs super often on this site.  In fact, I’ve only really talked about them once before.  Believe me, if certain other writers for this site had their way, I’d definitely be talking about them way more often, but alas, here we are.  Still, as a mark for good toys, dinosaurs do come up with at least a bit of frequency, since you certainly can’t deny their inherent toyeticness.  Yes, “toyeticness” is totally a word.  Anyway, I’m going to be doubling my dino-themed output today, and taking a look at the king of all dinos, the Tyrannosaurus Rex!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Tyrannosaurus Rex, whose proper given name appears to be “T-Rex” here, is figure 002 in the Halftoys Dino Series.  The line is produced in China by Halftoys, and distributed in the US by LearnPlay.  As of right now, there are six dinos available, covering most of the basics.  The figure is about 2 1/2 inches tall, and doesn’t have any real articulation, in the traditional sense at least.  These guys are sold as “model sets” moreso than traditional figures, so they’re just slightly outside of my usual area.  That said, T-Rex himself comes assembled in the package, so he’s a pretty basic figurine in that respect.  He’s constructed from seven pieces.  There’s an outer shell gives us a friendly, cartoon caricature of the classical depiction of the T-Rex.  It’s downright adorable.  This shell splitsin two, right down the middle, befitting the “Halftoys” monicker.  When in place, the two halves are held together by magnets, which is a nice, sleek, clean way of handling it.  Beneath this shell is T-Rex’s skeleton, which, like his exterior, is a friendly caricature of the real thing.  It can be disassembled into five different pieces, which all go back together like a small 3D jigsaw puzzle.  Since there’s only one way for everything to go back together, there isn’t any confusion or frustration when trying to reassemble, and all of the parts are large enough that they shouldn’t be very easily lost.  And, at every stage of the process, the figure remains a solid little toy, which I quite liked.  In addition to the main figure, you also get a buildable diorama to go with him.  It’s just a paper-crafted item, so it’s not anything revolutionary, but it does make for a nice extra touch.  Assembly took about 30 minutes for me, and it’s mostly pretty intuitive.  Some parts are a little trickier than others, and I had some stability issues with the tree once I’d assembled it, but for paper-craft, it’s not too shabby.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Full Disclosure:  the T-Rex reviewed here was provided to me in exchange for a review by LearnPlay.

Prior to being contacted by LearnPlay, I wasn’t familiar with anything from Halftoys, but after checking them out, I was certainly intrigued.  This little guy is certainly a lot of fun.  Sure, he’s not your traditional action figure, but they’re certainly going to be appealing to a younger dino-obsessed crowd, and I can definitely see myself lining up a bunch of them on my desk at work.  The figure is solidly constructed, and should hold up to some sustained play.  Plus, I just find him a lot of fun to sit and fiddle with, which is honestly the most appealing thing for me in any toy I pick up.  I will definitely be getting some more of these for myself.  If you’re a dino-fan, or are looking for a cool gift for your favorite dino-fan, I can heartily recommend this guy and his compatriots.  For more information, head on over to LearnPlay’s site here.

The Blaster In Question #0073: Rukkus ICS-8

Posted by Tim Marron in Nerf Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

BlasterInQuestion1

RUKKUS ICS-8

N-STRIKE ELITE

rukkus1People that know me know that I spend more than a fair bit of time playing Warframe. And if, like me, you too play more Warframe than you should, you probably know that the Soma rifle from the game is a boss and I’ll fight you if you don’t like it.  Sure it’s not the KOHM, but that’s a shotgun and doesn’t relate to today’s review. Visually one of the more distinctive features of the Soma is a giant clip that feeds vertically through the gun as you fire, and that specifically is where my mind went when I first saw the Rukkus ICS-8. I’ll tell you right now it’s not the Soma, or even the Aksomati, but that’s like comparing apples to fictional oranges from a video game that are meant to be lethal firearms, so not really fair. Let’s get into the review. 

THE BLASTER ITSELF

rukkus2The Rukkus ICS-8 was released right at the end of 2018 as part of the N-Strike Elite series of blasters. It is yet another entry into the list of ratcheting clip-fed blasters like the Battlescout but this time the clip feeds vertically rather than horizontally. Additionally the clip on the Rukkus is curved slightly and is not removable from the blaster. It holds 8 rounds and is capable of slam-fire. The blaster also uses a top priming slide rather than a pump grip or bolt. This isn’t unusual for a smaller Nerf blaster at all but it does play into my next bit so sit tight. If recent news has told us anything, it’s that Nerf is not shy about license deals with upcoming products for both Overwatch and Fortnite. At this point, I would like to submit for consideration, Nerf Warframe. Just extend the clip, put a stock and proper barrel with maybe a pump grip, and you have a decent analog for the Soma, at least in form. Hasbro, if you’re listening, just think about it. Anyway, the Rukkus has no C696D89D-1202-45FC-8BC5-C482973E4A41attachment rails or lugs of any sort so, sadly, your options for customization are essentially nil without getting into mods. Personally I start with a Hornet Strike and Pistol Gambit to boost the critical- wait… different mods, sorry. The ergonomics of the Rukkus are decent, nothing really remarkable but it’s all comfortable and functional. Likewise, performance is solid without being mindblowing. There are some shots that feel like they don’t hit quite as hard as others but it’s not consistent so it’s hard to nail down what the cause is.  The mechanical sound and feel of clip advancing between shots is quite satisfying and can be rather intimidating to your younger siblings when you bust into their room. Just count your shots because reloading is a little cumbersome given that the clip is never fully exposed to put darts back in. The Rukkus ICS-8 comes packaged with 8 Elite darts. 

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION 

I know in reality the odds of Hasbro picking up the Warframe license are slim to none, but you have to admit there would be plenty to work with. Other weapons in the game would be easy pickings for conversions into the toy market.  I mean, the Furis is basically a Stryfe as is, and we know Nerf has experience with melee foam toys. Perhaps one day I’ll be able to swing around a big foam Galatine like a cool guy. Until then, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a Tenno-Strike series of blasters or even a Warframe Legends action figure line.

#1886: Mr. Fantastic & Dr. Doom

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

MR. FANTASTIC & DR. DOOM

MARVEL MINIMATES

The Marvel Minimates Best Of assortments frequently paired off classic Marvel characters and their greatest foes, but what happens when the foe is actually the foe to a whole team?  You compromise, I guess.  At least in the case of the Fantastic Four, Reed Richards does have the slightly more personal connection to long-time foe (and greatest villain of all time) Dr. Doom, so he was the one who got the slot.  Good for him!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Mr. Fantastic and Dr. Doom were part of the second Best of Marvel Minimates series, which hit stores in early 2013.

MR. FANTASTIC

Second only to The Thing in terms of number of Minimates, this particular Mr. Fantastic was his sixth time in this particular style.  He’s sporting his classic black and blue gear, based on his look from earlier in his career. Curiously, there are, to date, no other members of the team with uniforms to match this one.  Not even the Ben from Series 1 of the Best Of line. This is something of an odd development.  In his most standard configuration, Reed is built on the basic Minimate body and uses just one add-on piece, for his hair.  It’s the Frank Wemple piece, which saw a lot of use right around this time.  It’s definitely well-chosen for Reed. Of course, since Reed’s powers make for a pretty versatile look, the figure has multiple other configurations.  DST experimented a bit with TRU Series 6’s Stretch-Attack Mr. Fantastic, which gave us a stretched out base piece to swap out for the lower legs.  This figure includes that extra, along with several new ones to match.  There’s an extended neck and stretched out arms, which can be mixed and matched into all sorts of different configurations.  Perhaps my favorite part is that the open hand on the right arm is perfectly sized to grip a standard Minimate torso.  Reed’s paintwork is fairly clean, and the color choices are bold.  He’s more colorful than his TRU Series 8 counterpart, but the blue isn’t quite as deep as the original Reed figure.  He’s somewhere between them.  I already chronicled the extra stretchy parts, but Reed also includes a standard display stand, if you want to be silly and not display him with that sweet stretched out base piece.

DR. DOOM

Victor Von Doom actually has his nemesis beaten in number of Minimates available, with eight releases under his belt.  This one was the seventh, and actually came out in rather close proximity to the Marvel vs. Capcom version, which it is quite similar to.  Most of the similarity between the two Dooms is in their sculpted parts.  Doom uses add-ons for his cloak, belt/skirt, gloves, and boots, as well as non-standard upper-arm pieces.  All of these were used on the prior figure.  They work decently, though the cloak runs into the same problem that prior Dooms have run into, with limitations being placed on his mobility.  It also makes him quite top heavy. And, in conjunction with all of the other sculpted parts, it generally creates a figure that’s not great for much other than standing.  The main change-up between the two Dooms is paint.  While the MvC release was in more game accurate colors and featured metallic armor, this one goes for a more print-styled flat color scheme.  It works well enough, and it’s definitely a more unique take on the character, compared to what we tend to see.  I think it helps the detailing on his faceplate stand out better, but leaves the arms and legs looking slightly bland.  Doom is packed with three accessories: a pistol, and alternate head with Doombot detailing, and a clear display stand.  I really like the Doombot head.  It’s a quite fun touch, and seems to especially work well without the cloak over top, thereby making the figure a good deal more playable.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I grabbed these two back when they were new, from my regular Minimate haunt, Cosmic Comix.  Reed is a solid figure, marred not by anything about this figure himself, but rather by the lack of any other members to match him.  Ben’s an easy enough fix if you just want to swap out the pelvis, and Johnny’s just really a head swap, but there’s no matching Sue, and that’s a little sad.  So soon after the MvC version, this Dr. Doom felt a little redundant, and ultimately inherits all of that figure’s flaws without any time to have fixed them.  That said, the Doombot head does quite a bit to salvage this guy.  Overall, he’s a decent offering.