#3846: Spat & Grovel

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

SPAT & GROVEL

MARVEL’S MOST WANTED (MANUFACTURER)

Last week, I wrapped up my reviews of the Toy Biz X-Men Savage Land series, looking at Joseph, a very dialed into the moment character at the time of his release.  So, today, let’s dial in even further!  In the 1997 storyline that sent a portion of the X-Men to the Savage Land (which I referenced in my Joseph review), Gambit is set upon by Spat, a bounty hunter who has a past with him.  Spat and her bestial partner Grovel are more or less a footnote in the X-Men’s history, but they have the fun little side-bit of being designed by creators Scott Lobdell and Joe Madureira specifically to be too weird to make for a good transition to toy form (something most X-characters where doing at that point).  So, they made them a woman aging in reverse and a weird space lizard.  And, of course, they had their own action figures in less than a year, because of course they did.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spat & Grovel were released in the 1998 Marvel’s Most Wanted series from Toy Biz.  It’s…well, it’s certainly a bold name for a series that included Spat & Grovel…or really any of the figure’s from it.  But, there it was.  These two are certainly the most obscure of the three offerings, hence this also being the only time they’ve shown up as action figures.

Spat’s really the main figure here, with Grovel being kind of an accessory, much in the same way as the Savage Land sets handled their figure and creature set-ups.  The figure is about 2 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Given her smaller stature, she just moves at the basic five, and even then, the hips are v-hips, so the end result is a figure that really doesn’t move all that much.  She’s really just a stand-er.  The sculpt does an okay job of capturing Madureira’s drawings of the character, with his slightly more cartoonish proportions and stylings all pretty well present.  The head admittedly looks a bit too much like a full-grown woman’s head, on a very small body.  That being said, it’s not a terrible offering.  I do like the flow on the headband, though, as well as the texturing on the fur of her outfit.  Spat’s paint work is pretty solid.  Both the hair and outfit get some accenting work to help sell the sculpted details as well.  Spat is packed with a spear with a chain on the end of it, which she holds nicely in her left hand.

Grovel’s a big space lizard, and that’s what this figure aims to be.  He’s a big, chunky thing, a fair bit larger than Spat.  Exactly *how* much larger than Spat he’s supposed to be varied a bit in the comics, so the figure just goes for demonstrably larger, and makes it work.  He’s got base movement at the top of each leg, and the tail can twist, so there’s some slight variation in play.  He’s also got a mouth opening action feature; pushing down the front-most fins opens the mouth up a fair bit.  He’s got some cool patterning for the paint work, which is pretty fun to look at, and generally sells the whole “giant space lizard” bit rather well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, I had literally no clue who Spat and Grovel were, and they were new, so my dad, who was my primary source of information on “who these guys were,” didn’t know either, so I kind of just missed out on them.  As such, they were the last of this particular set I picked up, actually just a few weeks ago.  I’ve been on a real Toy Biz kick, largely because I’m finally trying to actually put them out on display, and I put the other two from this set out and figured it might be a good time to finally finish the set.  They’re a rather goofy pair of characters, and not so much toy-friendly, but at the same time, I don’t think they’re un-toy-friendly either.  And, it’s not like there’s ever going to be another version of this pair, so they’ve got that particular novelty, if nothing else.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0026: Princess Leia Organa as Boushh

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

PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA as BOUSHH

STAR WARS: SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE (KENNER)

For our second Flashback Friday Figure Addendum that’s actually back on a Friday, I’m following up on a thing from last week, and doing another Star Wars follow-up.  Heck, it’s even another Shadows of the Empire follow-up, because that’s how I roll…you know, right now specifically.  Anyway, let’s revisit Leia as Boushh!

“After Han Solo was captured by Boba Fett, several attempts were made on Luke Skywalker’s life which threatened the future of the Rebellion. Princess Leia Organa and Chewbacca sought to protect the young Jedi, and traveled to Coruscant to follow up leads surrounding these attempts. They hoped to draw from the extreme intelligence gathering network of the Black Sun, a criminal organization whose operations extended to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. Because Coruscant is the homeworld of the Empire- a dangerous place for any member of the Rebel Alliance- Leia disguised herself as the renowned Ubesian bounty hunter Boushh. Boushh’s helmet concealed her entire face while a built-in voxscrambler altered her voice to resemble that of an Ubesian; a false I.D. and code taken from Black Sun completed her disguise and provided a safe level of anonymity. Little did she know that Prince Xizor, Underlord of Black Sun, was behind the murder attempts on Skywalker, and had his sights set on Leia as well.”

Long bio there.  How do you follow that, amirite?  Um, so, yeah, today’s another Star Wars review. Yaaaay.  This time around I’m taking a look at another Princess Leia figure, specifically the one from that time she pretended to be a bounty hunter.  Everybody loves bounty hunters!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Leia in Boushh disguise was released not as part of the main Power of the Force II line, but instead as part of the basic assortment of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (she would later see a re-release on a standard PotF2 green card, though).  She has the notoriety of being the only movie-based figure in the line-up.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation.  As with the PotF2 Slave Leia figure, this Leia is a bit on the tall side.  This was a recurring issue early into this line; at least they were consistent, right?  Leia sports a unique sculpt. It’s fairly decent for the time, being only slightly pre-posed and generally pretty decently proportioned.  It captures the look from the movie pretty well, and only makes minor stylistic adjustments.  The thermal detonator in her left hand is permanently attached, which removes a little bit of versatility from the figure, but given how integral that piece is to her intro in Jedi, I’m willing to give them a pass.  The head doesn’t exactly look like Carrie Fisher, but it also doesn’t look like a chimpanzee, which puts it ahead of most of the Leias of the time.  The paintwork on Leia is generally pretty solid.  The colors match well enough with what we see on-screen, and the application is all pretty clean.  Leia was packed with a removable helmet and half-cape to complete her Boushh look, as well as the usual staff, which according to the packaging is actually a blaster rifle.  Who knew?  I certainly didn’t.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This wasn’t my first Leia (that was the monkey-faced ANH version), but this figure has the distinction of being my go-to Leia for most of my childhood.  I actually don’t 100% recall where this figure came from.  She was probably a gift, likely for my birthday, but that’s really just me making an educated guess.  Nevertheless, this was my favorite Leia for a good long while, and is the strongest of the ’90s Leia figures.  This figure is pretty much single-handedly responsible for my love of Leia as Boushh.

This review was actually my very first Shadows figure, tempered a bit, I suppose, by the fact that she’s one of the two that pulled double duty between Shadows and the main line.  I don’t remember specifically where mine came from, but I do recall that purple card, so I know she was the Shadows release.  This review stuck to brevity, but not in a bad way.  I think I was honestly pretty on point here.  When I reviewed her, she was the antithesis of Luke, who had his weapon and half-cape, but no helmet, in that she had the helmet, but not the other things.  Thankfully, I was able to locate the missing parts in the mean time, so she’s all complete again.  The cape likes to pop out of place a lot, but she’s otherwise still a very nice figure, and remains my favorite Leia of this era.

#3845: Commando Droid

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

COMMANDO DROID

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

One of the things Clone Wars did was flesh out the ranks of the two opposing armies a bit more than what we saw in the movies.  Obviously, we got a lot of focus on the individual clones, but the Droids also got some new models not seen elsewhere.  A good number of them were more specialized, but one of the earliest additions to the more standard line-up was the Commando Droid, a more robust take on the standard Battle Droid.  As we finally start to get some more of the droid army in Black Series, we’ve finally made our way to some of those Clone Wars-original designs, meaning we finally get an update to the Commando Droid!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Commando Droid is figure 18 in the Clone Wars sub-set of Star Wars: The Black Series‘ 4th Phase.  The Clone Wars line is really one of the slowest growing of the sub-lines; the Commando Droid is only 1 higher than Pre Vizsla, a figure released at the end of 2023.  It also makes the Commando Droid thus far the only Clone Wars-branded figure in the new standard packaging (though there’s already a Savage Opress in the deluxe equivalent).  The figure stands 6 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  The articulation on this guy hits pretty much all of the notes it needs to, and doesn’t leave really any of his sculpted joints as false ones, which is always nice to see.  I was impressed by how the neck and shoulders worked; the ball joints coupled with the hinges make for an impressive range.  The only part I’m not too keen on is the knees, which don’t go quite as deep as I’d like; they pretty much stop at 90 degrees, which is bare minimum, but not great for lunging and stuff.  Thankfully, the hips and ankles have enough movement to offset.  The sculpt is an all-new one, and it’s a very strong one.  The Commando Droids only exist in the Clone Wars style, but this figure manages to capture the spirit of that design, while also making them feel at home with the rest of the more realistically-styled figures.  The detailing is all very sharp, and the articulation works into the sculpt well.  He’s also quite sturdy, which is an improvement to some of the other droid sculpts.  His paint work is more involved than you might expect.  There’s the base color work, of course, which is good and clean, but he’s also got a fair bit of weathering, which makes him seem a little more battle-hardened, which feels right for such a droid.  The Commando Droid is packed with a standard droid blaster and a vibro-blade.  The blaster fits very nicely in his hands, and the blade can be mounted on his back, albeit somewhat awkwardly.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m a big fan of the Commando Droid, and have almost every version from the Clone Wars line.  That’s one of my very favorite molds from that era, so this one was one I was really looking forward to, but ever so slightly worried might not live up to my expectations, especially after being rather letdown by the Magnaguard.  But, I couldn’t bring myself to pass him up, so I snagged him when he hit.  He’s truly a fantastic figure, and a worthy successor to the old Clone Wars mold.  I’m very glad I didn’t skip this one.

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.

#3844: VF-1S Veritech – Roy Fokker

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

VF-1S VERITECH — ROY FOKKER

ROBO DOU (THREE ZERO)

Before today, you could count the Robotech reviews here on the site on one hand.  But now, you can’t!  …you know, because there were five, and this brings it up to six.  Do you get it?  Do you get the joke?  Well, I do, and that’s the most important thing.  As I’ve brought up in, I think, all of my Robotech reviews, I’m rather a late convert to the show, only actually watching it within the last decade.  So, there’s a fair bit of catching up to do, but also I try not to go to crazy and space it out a bit.  Given it’s been three years since my last review, I guess I’m doing alright with that spacing out, huh?  Three Zero has started doing some Robotech stuff in their Robo Dou line, and I do like Three Zero’s work, so I’m checking one of those out today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The VF-1S Veritech — Roy Fokker is part of Three Zero’s Robo Dou line, which handles mechas and robots from a number of different anime properties.  This one follows up on the release of Rick’s Veritech from….2023, I think?  There was a bit of a gap.  Roy’s Veritech just started hitting in the last month or so.  The figure ships in Battloid mode, which is the main look that everyone actually likes.  Well, it’s the main look that *I* actually like, and for the purposes of this site, I’m everyone.  In said mode, the figure is about 8 3/4 inches tall and has 29 workable points of articulation.  It compares well to other Three Zero mech stuff I’ve messed with in terms of articulation and build.  You can get good poses out of him without too much trouble.  The hips can be a little bit finicky, especially the first time you use them.  On my figure, I wound up hitting the folded up wings, and it popped some parts of the torso out of place, which was a bit tricky to get back in order.  But, once I did, everything stayed pretty securely together.  Like the other Three Zero mechs I’ve looked at, this figure is a mix of plastic and die-cast construction.  He’s got quite a bit of heft to him, while also still maintaining a sharp level of detailing.  The color work here is quite impressively handled.  All the base work is very clean, and he’s also got panel lining to really help sell the sharpness of the sculpt.  There’s also a ton of smaller printed details, which show a tremendous attention to detail.  The Veritech is packed with four pairs of hands (weapon holding, flat, open gesture, and fists), a GU11 rifle, and a display stand.  It also includes four sets of missiles, an antenna, and an alternate mount for the base, all meant to work with the figure’s alternate modes.

Let’s talk about said alternate modes!  As with all transforming Veritechs, you get the main Battloid mode, the Guardian mode, and the Fighter mode.  To get from Battloid to Fighter (robot to jet), you stop in the middle for Guardian, which is…well, it’s kind of silly, and it’s not really so much a mode as it is just stopping midway.  Of course, given how nerve-racking the actual transformation process is, a break at the halfway point isn’t so bad an idea.  Even following the instructions, I was left to throw my hands up a slightly improvise a few times, and I had at least one point where I very seriously considered running this review without photos of the alternate modes.  Thankfully, the rest of the transformation to full Fighter mode isn’t quite as bad, nor is the reverse transformation back to Battloid (apart from the one pin that fell out during the transformation back.  It’s okay, it’s not entirely structural…).  The Fighter mode is actually pretty nice, and I do really like the little teeny, tiny Roy figure in the cockpit.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since getting into Robotech, I’ve been looking for solid figure coverage of Roy’s Veritech, since Roy’s my favorite pilot, and his Veritech is particularly cool.  I looked at the rather elaborate transforming one that All Time loaned me back in 2018, and I really liked that one, but its price point was a bit scary, so I backed off.  I’ve messed with a few of the smaller ones since, and they’re cool, but always a bit too spindly for me.  I’ve been impressed with Three Zero’s other work, so once I saw they were doing them, I was onboard for this guy here.  He’s fun, in a sort of don’t really want to mess with him all the time, but he’s still really cool to look at way.  I’m glad I got to experience the transforming, and now he can remain purely in Battloid mode for the rest of the time I own him.

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.

#3843: Green Lantern

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

GREEN LANTERN

DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS (MATTEL)

For the first time since the middle of February, I don’t have a Super Powers figure set for review today.  I know, I’m sad too.  Alas.  Back in January, I had a pretty solid run of DC Universe Classics reviews, with a pretty good focus in particular on the many Hal Jordan Green Lantern variants Mattel did during the line’s run.  I had one that was *not* featured in January, for rather a good reason: I didn’t own in.  But, well, as the photo above this intro may have clued you in, that’s changed in the months since then.  It was inevitable, I feel.  Anyway, here’s another Hal Jordan Green Lantern.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Green Lantern was added to Mattel’s DC Universe Classics line in 2010, as part of a larger Toys R Us-exclusive line of repaints.  He was the second of four figures offered quarterly throughout the year, following Batman, and preceding Flash and Nightwing.  This figure was also functionally re-released the following year as part of a DC Universe vs Masters of the Universe Classics two-pack with Zodac, with only the included accessory changing.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 23 points of articulation.  He uses the same assembly as all the other GL Hals from the line, so medium body, standard Hal head sculpt, and the right hand with the ring on it.  It’s a sculpt I continue to like, but I will say that, as nice as the head is, it’s maybe not quite on the mark for a more modern Hal, which is what this one’s aiming for.  Still, it’s not bad by any stretch of the imagination.  That said, there’s some issues with some of the green plastics from around this time getting brittle, and that happened with mine, resulting in a small chunk of his neck breaking off.  The joint still works and it’s not super visible, but it’s annoying.  Hal’s paint work is the main change-up.  He’s using a similar approach to the one from the 2-pack, with a glossy, metallic finish for his suit.  However, instead of a Super Friends inspiration, Hal’s using his post-Rebirth costume.  So, he loses the “trunks” element of the costume, as well as the other figure’s visible pupils.  I still really like the overall look of the color scheme, but I’d be lying if I said the classic design didn’t still land a bit better for me.  But, at least this one gives other people who didn’t like the last one’s “creepy eyes” a version of the head without them.  Hal’s single-packed release included a power battery, while the two-pack release got a recolor of John Stewart’s gun construct.  Because we certainly wouldn’t want Hal to have the fist construct.  That would be wrong.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember this figure being released, but, as much as I love Hal, I was getting a bit worn thin on him in 2010.  So, I didn’t track this one down when it was new.  But, as I’ve gotten more of the others I missed, I felt the need to go back and get him.  Thankfully, in my line of work, these sorts of things tend to just land in front of me, which is exactly what happened with this guy.  He’s cool.  Kind of a lot of the same stuff as others, and it’s a bummer mine’s got a slight break, but that’s the cost of DC Universe Classics.

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.

#3842: Joseph & Amphibious

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

JOSEPH & AMPHIBIOUS

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“Temporarily stricken with amnesia, the evil Mutant of Magnetism, Magneto, now goes by the name Joseph. When he finds himself in the company of the X-Men in the Savage Land, Joseph is free to use his impressive powers of magnetism to manipulate not only metal, but earth as well as his every desire. Alongside his frog-like companion, Amphibious, Joseph proves time and time again why he is one of the most powerful mutants on the planet.”

And we’re headed back into the Savage Land!  But, now it’s gonna get all weird…well, weirder than it was.  Maybe.  It’s all relative.  Or something.  …Where was I?  Oh, right, Savage Land.  For the final entry in the Savage Land set, Toy Biz went really current and topical, with the one and only figure of Joseph, a character whose backstory was still unfolding at the time of this figure’s release, which is why the bio is actually just plain wrong.  Joseph was *not* Magneto de-aged and stricken with amnesia, but rather a *clone* of Magneto, created to best the original, who just so happened to re-surface after the original’s supposed demise.  Magneto’s return wound up leading to *Joseph’s* demise, and Magento’s general turn to the more heroic side since has meant that Joseph’s returns to life have tended to have him take a more villainous role, in order to offset.  It’s a bit complicated, but you know what’s not?  The toys!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Joseph and Amphibius are the fifth and final entry in the 1997 “Savage Land” assortment of Toy Biz’s X-Men line.  As noted in the intro, Joseph was rather a current addition to the team at the time, making him an interesting counterpart to the rest of the line-up, which consisted of a classic look for Angel, more or less evergreen designs for Ka-Zar and Storm, and a very modernized (at the time) Wolverine.  Joseph actually wound up in the Savage Land the same year this figure was released, but was not with any of the other characters featured (he actually spent most of his time with Maggott, who was *supposed* to get a figure, but it was cancelled…)

Joseph is seen here with his one and only action figure.  There’s something ironic about said only figure not even being a standard look, but it’s at least just a slight variation, and not as far removed as some of the others.  He’s got his same core look, that being the basic blue-and-gold suit, but it’s now sleeveless and he’s added a few things on top of it. The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and he has 10 points of articulation. Joseph is another re-use heavy figure, making use of a large number of parts from the Age of Apocalypse Cyclops. He gets a new head and left arm. The arm is really just designed to mimic the right, removing the asymmetric armoring of the Cyclops. It also adds an animal skull armor piece to the shoulder. The new head is quite a nice piece, and manages to capture Joseph’s usual depictions pretty well, while also fitting nicely with the base body. The long hair does mean he lacks a lot of neck mobility, but it’s still better than nothing at all. His color work is generally okay; there’s a slight metallic finish to the uniform, which I rather like. The only thing I’m not crazy about is the painted on rips to the uniform. They don’t match the actual molded skin tone, and they end up just looking a bit hokey. Ultimately, it’s the one thing the figure would be better without. Joseph is packed with a disc launching accessory, which can sort of double as a bladed weapon and a shield.

Wolverine and Storm may have gotten made up creatures, but Joseph gets an actual, proper character, and one with no other figure treatment at that. Yes, it’s Amphibious, one of the “mutates” created by the original Magneto during his stay in the Savage Land. It’s a bit of a reach, but certainly a cool one, and he even has an okay tie to Joseph. He winds up being up-scaled a bit to justify taking the “creature” spot. So, instead of being about the same size as a normal person, he’s almost that same height crouching. It’s at least a nice sculpt, if perhaps a slightly exaggerated one. He’s also got slightly more involved painting work than some of the other creatures. And, the head is soft rubber, with a small hole allowing it to be filled with water. Squeezing the head then allows him to “spit.”

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had two of the Savage Land sets as a kid. The first was Angel, the other was this one. There were two different KB Toys outlets my family always hit while vacationing. One was right outside our vacation spot, and the other was on the drive back. These came from that second one. I got Angel because I’d lost the one from my original members set. I didn’t have a Magneto in my collection, and at the time, we all still thought he *was* Magneto, so I also got this one. I was also happy to have Amphibious, as I’d just read his original comics appearances at the time. Amphibious got lost somewhere along the way, necessitating a replacement (which actually came from Yesterday’s Fun, which is near where my family vacations), and Joseph himself was part of the box of misplaced X-Men figures I dug out during “The Find” in 2016. This is probably my favorite of these sets, partially because of my nostalgia for it, and partially because it’s the most unique of them, ultimately. In general, I was pleasantly surprised by the Savage Land set. They’re far from high concept, but the execution across the board is a very simple sort of fun.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0025: Luke Skywalker in Imperial Guard Disguise

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

LUKE SKYWALKER in IMPERIAL GUARD DISGUISE

STAR WARS: SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE (KENNER)

What’s this?  The Flashback Figure Addendums are back on Fridays?  Yes, dear reader, they are.  I moved them to Mondays to tie-in with Marvel, but it was honestly bugging me, because then they’re not “Flashback Fridays” anymore, and it feels like it kind of misses the point.  Additionally, I’m feeling stretched just a bit too thin these days.  And, rather than take a whole hiatus, I’ve decided to give myself a slight breather on Fridays.  So, for the foreseeable future, you’ll be getting four new reviews a week from me, as well as one Flashback Friday Figure Addendum.  For our first Addendum back on a Friday, we’re tying in with yesterday’s Star Wars review, with Luke Skywalker in Imperial Guard Disguise!

“The Empire’s victory in the Battle of Hoth has brought hard times for the Rebel Alliance. Han Solo has been frozen in carbonite by Darth Vader, and two huge bounties have been placed on the head of Luke Skywalker. The Emperor wants him alive, but Prince Xizor , underlord of the most powerful criminal organization in the galaxy, wants him dead. Worse still is that the diabolical Xizor is holding Princess Leia Organa prisoner in his castle on the Imperial Center of Coruscant. this is a tactical maneuver, part of a larger master plan to lure Luke Skywalker into his castle where he can be easily eliminated — the key step in Xizor’s plan to replace Darth Vader at the Emperor’s side. unaware of this danger, the young Jedi and Lando Calrissian sneak into Imperial City hoping to rescue Leia. Simplylaying foot on Coruscant is a dangerous act for these two: high on the Empire’s list of most-wanted outlaws, they could easily be recognized and captured — or assassinated. Disguising themselves as beggars, they “borrow” the armored uniforms from a pair of elite Coruscant stormtroopers. These troopers are some of the Empire’s finest, selected as home guards for the wealthiest and most cultured city in the galaxy. Joining forces with Chewbacca and Dash Rendar, Skywalker and Calrissian attempt to infiltrate Xizor’s nearly impenetrable stronghold and rescue the princess.”

1996’s Shadows of the Empire was important, in that it was the first time the public at large had been introduced to the Star Wars Expanded Universe. It’s also an interesting experiment in marketing, essentially being a movie merchandising campaign that lacked a movie. There were a handful of figures, mixed in with Kenner’s then running Power of the Force II. Newcomers Dash Rendar and Prince Xizor got figures, of course, but there were also new variants of out heroes Luke, Leia, and Chewbacca, all of whom had to take on disguises during this new story. I’ve looked at both Leia and Chewbacca, which just leaves Luke, who I’ll be reviewing today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke Skywalker in Imperial Guard Disguise was released in the basic figure assortment of Kenner’s Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire line. The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation. This Luke uses the same head as all of the other early PotF2 Lukes. It’s not the best likeness, but hey, here’s to consistency, right? The rest of the figure is brand new. The packaging dubs his look as “Imperial Guard Disguise,” a name that tends to conjure up the red guards from Return of the Jedi, who look quite a bit different than the look Luke is sporting here. However, the bio fills us in that this armor is actually from one of the elite Stormtroopers on Coruscant, making it a separate look entirely. As with so much of the design work seen in Shadows, the armor is undeniably a product of mid-90s comic book design, meaning it’s a little divorced from the original trilogy designs. His armor’s bulky and ultra padded, and seems to lack that used look we’re so accustomed to. It’s a little hard to reconcile this as a design that would appear in between Empire and Jedi. That being said, it’s hardly a terrible look. In fact, it manages to be rather unique and helps this Luke to stand out a bit from the crowd of other Lukes from over the years. The paint work on this figure is fairly decent, and, like the rest of his design, fairly unique. The red’s a nice shade, and all of the application is pretty clean. He’s packed with a removable helmet and half-cape to help complete his full disguise. Since Luke lost his father’s lightsaber in Empire and didn’t build a new one until the beginning of Jedi, he of course needed a new weapon, so this figure included a taser staff weapon.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure was, I believe, my first Shadows of the Empire figure. My cousin Noah had saved up to buy the PotF2 Millennium Falcon, and was along for the trip to go buy it. Noah’s mother, who took us on the trip, agreed to get me one figure. Luke was my favorite character, and this figure appealed to my 5-year-old self, so he was the one I picked. I’d say having this guy in my collection already was probably what pushed me to pick up the Bounty Hunter Chewbacca instead of the normal one, and owning these two is certainly not a decision I regret in the slightest.

This is from 2018, when I was pretty deep into my Power of the Force revisit that was brought on by a bunch of figures purchased the year prior.  Luke was, of course, from my original run, so he snuck in there closer to the end.  I was still operating off of the bulk photos I’d shot some time back in early 2016, so he didn’t get updated to get turnarounds.  And, while I had managed to locate both his cape and weapon for the purposes of that review, I had not yet found his helmet, which I found sometime in the last few years and set to the side and promptly forgot about.  But, here it is now!  Beyond those two things, I stand by my review, and I still do love this figure quite a bit.

#3841: Luke Skywalker – Imperial Guard & Princess Leia Organa – Boushh

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

LUKE SKYWALKER — IMPERIAL GUARD & PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA — BOUSHH

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES (HASBRO)

“To gather intel on the Black Sun, Leia disguised herself as an Ubesian bounty hunter. But when Xizor captured her, it was up to Luke — alongside his friends and posing as an Imperial Guard — to rescue her”

Next year, it will have been 30 years since Shadows of the Empire, the multimedia Star Wars “event” set between Empire and Jedi launched.  So, you know, we’re all getting properly nostalgic.  Also, I think the last of the original product might *finally* be starting to dry up.  No, I’m just kidding; that stuff’s never gonna dry up!  Nevertheless, Hasbro’s actually doing some updated versions of a lot of the principal players in their Black Series line, including today’s focus, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Luke Skywalker — Imperial Guard and Princess Leia Organa — Boushh are a Hasbro Pulse-exclusive Star Wars: The Black Series two-pack.  They hit more or less in tandem with the main line’s Prince Xizor figure, launching this little Shadows of the Empire sub-line.

LUKE SKYWALKER — IMPERIAL GUARD

While for much of the Shadows story, Luke is just wearing slight variations on his looks from the two surrounding films, the look that gets the most play in tie-ins is his Imperial Guard look, when he and Lando steel the armor from the elite Stormtroopers on Coruscant.  It’s notably the look for his vintage Kenner figure, giving it some distinctive play.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and has 29 points of articulation.  He appears, near as I can tell, to be an all-new sculpt.  That’s not terribly surprising, since it’s a rather unique design.  That being said, this figure does a bit to bring said design just a touch more in line with the general Star Wars vibe, playing up the similarities to the clone armor just a bit.  It’s a solid translation of the design, with a lot of well-rendered textures and layering, making it a very visually interesting design.  As with the original figure, the helmet is removable (though, unlike the earlier figure, the cape is not), and we get a fair run of the mill modern Luke underneath.  The whole thing goes together pretty well, and it’s an impressive piece of work from top to bottom.  The color work is a little brighter than I’m used to, going by the Kenner figure and all, but at the same time, it’s not bad.  The red matches closer to the Black Series Royal Guards, which makes its own degree of internal sense.  He’s packed with the aforementioned removable helmet, as well as his taser staff weapon thing.

PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA — BOUSHH

Within the context of the story, Shadows serves to introduce the Boushh disguise that Leia uses to infiltrate Jabba’s palace in Return of the Jedi, which also serves as a great way for the Shadows tie-ins to double-dip on Boushh disguise Leia molds.  Despite there being other looks for Leia in-story, this figure is hear to offset the cost of new tooling on Luke, hence the re-used look.  The figure stands about 5 1/2 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  From the neck down, she’s identical to the very first Black Series Boushh Leia, and, by extension, it’s Archive re-issue.  It’s a good sculpt, and apart from some slightly older style articulation, there’s not much you can do to improve it.  The one change-up is the head, which goes from being a solid cast piece to being the head/hair two-piece assembly that’s become standard for the line.  I always felt that the Boushh head sculpt was one of the better likenesses for Leia, but the styling was a little outdated, so I get the need for update.  Ultimately, this one’s more technically advanced, but I think it looks less like Carrie Fisher, so it’s a bit of toss-up in terms of which one’s actually better.  The paint work is again very similar to the last release, with only the head really changing things up, again to bring things more up to modern standards.  Like her prior release, Leia is packed with her helmet, staff, and thermal detonator.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m slowing down on Black Series these days, and I don’t *need* to get all of the Shadows figures, what with having the originals and all, but at the same time, I’m a sucker for that Luke design.  When these were shown off, I was certainly interested, and Max was thankfully nice enough to hook me up with a set, since he was ordering one for himself.  Now that they’re here, they’re certainly…well, they’re certainly the smaller figures, but bigger, I guess.  Both of them are nice, for sure, and Luke’s a particularly impressive piece himself.  But, as with so much Black Series these days, I don’t know that my own personal excitement is there much.

#3840: Janine Melnitz

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

JANINE MELNITZ

GHOSTBUSTERS (DIAMOND SELECT TOYS)

I don’t talk about Ghostbusters *a ton* here on the site. I love the first movie, and there’s certainly plenty of toy coverage, but it tends to be a little spotty. I really liked Plasma Series and when that ended, I sort of moved on, I guess. The Ghostbusters themselves have always been quite toyetic, but their supporting players are more of a mix. Annie Potts’ Janine Melnitz, present in both original movies and much of the spin-off media, tends to get overlooked, being a receptionist who dresses like a receptionist, and is therefore not super thrilling. She did, however, get a figure from Diamond’s run, so let’s look at that!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Janine was released in Series 3 of Diamond’s Ghostbusters line. She’s based on her first movie look, which is a little more reserved and “real world” than her look from II, making it the less likely of the two for toys, typically. The figure is about 6 3/4 inches tall and she has 26 points of articulation.  The Diamond figures were 7-inch scale, so they don’t really go with the Mattel or Hasbro offerings, but they do go with other DST offerings, I guess.  Or, maybe Janine is just, like, really tall.  The articulation on this figure is rather on the restricted side.  Obviously, areas such as the legs make a degree of sense, since she’s got the skirt and all.  What’s more surprising is the elbows, which don’t even get to a full 90 degree bend, seemingly for no reason at all.  It makes it difficult to do much with her beyond just standing her there.  Her sculpt proper is decent.  It’s definitely right in line with the rest of the line’s quality, and DST’s 7-inch figures in general.  The likeness on the head is decent, if perhaps somewhat marred by the very thick glasses; they wind up looking quite silly.  The body sculpt has generally okay proportions, but the limbs seem maybe a touch on the long side.  Generally, though, it’s not bad.  You can take her sweater vest off, for a slight change-up of look, if you’re so inclined.  The paint work on Janine is the usual DST affair, so it’s rather thick, and totally covers the figure, with no molded colors.  It hides a lot of the sculpted details, which is a bit unfortunate.  The application is at least pretty cleanly handled, though.  Janine is packed with two sets of hands (in open gesture and…slightly different open gesture), a Chinese food container, a phone, and part of the rooftop diorama.  The hands having no sort of grip or anything makes the rest of the accessories a little bit pointless, but I guess she at least gets *something*.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t pay much attention to this line when it was hitting.  I was too burned by the Mattel stuff, and I didn’t really come back around until Plasma Series hit, and I definitely liked the styling of that one more.  Of course, there was no Janine in that line, which was a bit of a bummer.  Also, I spent a span of about three months listening to Annie Potts’ voice in the Toy Story movies every single morning, and that sort of highlighted the lack of proper Annie Potts representation in my collection, which I just didn’t feel should stand.  So, when this figure was traded in at work, I felt compelled to buy it.  She’s hardly anything amazing, but she’s also not terrible, and she’s certainly good for just standing there, which is what Janine does tend to do best.

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.

#3839: Red Tornado

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

RED TORNADO

SUPER POWERS (KENNER)

You know, the last time I broke from McFarlane Super Powers coverage to go back to the vintage Kenner stuff, it was for a spinny sort of robot guy.  So, this time around, as I break from the McFarlane Super Powers coverage, it’s to look at a vintage Kenner figure of a….spinny sort of robot guy?  What are the odds?  Well, actually 1 in 17, because there’s the 2 of them in the original 34 figure run and all.  So, you know, simple math and all that.  Last time, however, it was Cyclotron, a character made up by Kenner for the line, but this time it’s DC’s original spinny sort of robot guy, Red Tornado!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Red Tornado was released in 1985 as part of the second series of Kenner’s Super Powers line.  This was Red Tornado’s first action figure, and would remain so until Hasbro added him to their JLA line in 2000.  The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 8 points of articulation.  He’s got all the standard articulation, plus movement at the waist, which is tied into his action feature, though it does still actually hold a little bit of posing.  Red Tornado got a totally unique sculpt for the line.  He’s sporting his second, and by far best known design, which he’d had for almost two decades at this point, so it was a sensible choice.  It’s a solid recreation of things.  The design elements are all raised, which is actually quite a nice way of handling it, and gives the design quite a bit of pop.  He gets a cloth cape, as was the usual for the line.  It’s a fairly nice cape, with the collar, and printed striping on the sides.  His paint work’s rather simple, largely just being the yellow detailing.  It does what it needs to, which is the important thing.  Red Tornado’s action feature is “Power Action Tornado Twist;” squeezing his arm spins his lower torso at the lower half.  It’s a little finicky, but not a bad recreation of his comics power.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Red Tornado is actually one my earliest Super Powers…possibly even my first?  It was either him or Aquaman.  I got him at a Farpoint, and I was exploring the dealers room with my Grandmother, and I wanted either this or the ToyFare-exclusive Reverse Flash, both of which were kind of expensive.  This wound up being the one, even though he didn’t have his cape.  He went over 20 years sans-cape, but I finally got one thanks to Jason at All Time.  He’s a neat figure, and a highlight to a line that’s already itself a highlight.