The Blaster In Question #0061: Cam ECS-12

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

 

 

BlasterInQuestion1

CAM ECS-12

N-STRIKE ELITE

cam1There’s one thing that Nerf keeps trying to do that I don’t think I’ll ever understand, and that’s attaching cameras to their blasters.  They tried it with the Battlescout and that was no good, but that was hardly their first attempt at this particular gimmick.  That one also suffered because the blaster itself was pretty crap, but what if they had tried using an actually decent mechanism as a starting point.  Well, in that case, you end up with the Cam ECS-12, which I’ll be reviewing today.  Let’s check it out.

THE BLASTER ITSELF

cam2The Cam ECS-12 was released in 2014 under the core N-Strike Elite line of blasters.  It was built on the old standby semi-auto flywheel mechanism we’ve seen again and again.  The main draw was the integrated “battle cam” that could function more or less like a scope while also being able to take photos and record video of whatever Nerf shenanigans you might choose to get up to.  With the 4 buttons just below the viewing screen, you can power the camera on and off, play/pause, skip forward, and delete files.  The actual capture button is located on the left side of the blue fore-grip area so you could press it from a firing position with your thumb (or index finger for lefties).  Rather wisely, the camera is run off its own entirely separate bank of AA batteries so having the cam on or off doesn’t affect the performance of the blaster at all and the two can be operated completely independently of each other.  The down-side is that the camera is just the worst.  It only captures images and videos in a tiny square format which matches the tiny square screen on the back end.  Videos also capture sound using a built in microphone which, as you can probably imagine, sounds horrendous should you do something stupid like rev up the flywheels ever.  The video feed to the screen always shows which format (photo/video) the camera is set to and how much capacity is left on the SD card as well as a square crosshairs reticle for aiming, I guess.  None of these actually get recorded onto any photos or videos, so that’s nice at least.  Turning the camera on, you are greeted by a Nerf logo on screen and a bizarre series of sound effects which I really can’t understand what they’re suppose to be.  cam3If you don’t touch any of the camera controls for about 5 mins, the blaster will start beeping and you’ll see a countdown from 10 on the screen, at the end of which, the whole thing explodes.  I mean, the camera auto shuts off, but you still have to hear that beeping so it might as well.  The slot for the SD card is on the forward left side of the “scope” and comes with a 4GB card already installed.  There was also originally a big orange shade on my blaster above the viewing screen, but It’s not really necessary and I found it flopped around and annoyed me so I took it off.  That’s probably enough about the bad camera, let’s end on a positive note.  The shell of the blaster is all original and boy does it look good.  Sure the barrel is kinda long and that slightly reduces its performance, but it just looks so sleek.  In all honesty, if Nerf tweaked the shell to get rid of the camera, and by extension drop the price substantially, I would buy another one of these in a heartbeat.  Some Nerf designs, while cool and I love them, can feel weird and goofy in hand.  This feels like a rifle, and I like it a lot.  It definitely gives it a more aggressive feel without being cartoonish and as long as you don’t intend to actually record anything, the video “scope” can make you feel like some sort of high-tech Halo-esque cool guy when you bust into your younger sibling’s room with it.  The Cam ECS-12 comes packaged with a 12 round magazine, 12 Elite darts, and the 4GB SD card.  The blaster takes 4 AA batteries to run and the camera takes another 4.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION 

This blaster got everyone super excited when Nerf first showed it off because, let’s be honest, it just looks cool.  The thing is, people got very unexcited when they saw the $75 price tag.  As such, hardly anyone bought one.  I managed to grab mine on a Black Friday sale for much less than MSRP, but I don’t know that looks and feel alone would have made me shell out that much money.  All this just makes their later attempt with the Battlescout all the more baffling.

#1747: Red Tornado

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

RED TORNADO

DC SUPERHEROES (IMAGINEXT)

Sometimes, it’s nice to remember when toys were just plain fun, and not necessarily aimed at pleasing only adult collectors.  One of the best lines out there for doing such things is Fisher Price’s Imaginext subset.  They’re definitely kid-oriented, but they’ve got some pretty amazing licenses, and the coverage of characters therein is nothing short of astounding.  They’re DC line in particular has made its way around to so many corners of the DCU, including more minor characters, such as today’s focus, the Red Tornado!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Red Tornado was introduced into the DC Superheroes Imaginext line in 2018.  He’s sold as deluxe single figure, meaning it’s just him and a larger accessory, in a similar fashion to the previously reviewed Brainiac.  The figure stands 3 inches tall and has 8 points of articulation (as with all Imaginext offerings, his legs move as one).  Red Tornado has had a few distinct looks over the years; this figure goes for his more robotic, more stylized appearance from when he was working as Young Justice’s official Justice League-er sponsor.  It’s actually one of my favorite looks for the character, so I was pretty happy about this.  His sculpt is fairly standard stuff for this product spread, with highly stylized proportions and the like.  The blank portions of the sculpt are actually even more sensible with this particular figure than they were on other characters, given the robotic design.  Interestingly, the body gets a few more robotic details that aren’t traditionally seen on this particular design for the character, though I’m really not complaining about that.  Red Tornado’s cape is a combination of sculpted and cloth elements; the collar is plastic and the actual cape cloth, which is the best possible combo.  Tornado’s paintwork is fairly basic stuff, since he’s mostly just molded in the proper colors.  There’s some slop on his collar, but he’s otherwise pretty sharp, and he’s certainly bright and eye-catching.  The extra large accessory included with this guy is a pretty sensible one; it’s a tornado effect, demonstrating his powers.  When you wheel it along the ground, it will spin the figure, which is pretty fun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

In the midst of Toys R Us closing, I was spending a lot of time at my closest store, and by extension, I was also spending a lot of time at the Target across the street.  They began their clearance process for their big reset a few months ago, and a bunch of Imaginext stuff was included.  Imaginext is already pretty reasonably priced to start with, so on clearance it’s an absolute steal.  It was hard to say no to Reddy at that point.  I quite like this guy, and I’m quite happy to have him.

#1746: Tenth Doctor

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

TENTH DOCTOR

DOCTOR WHO (BIG CHIEF)

So, this week, I’ve mostly been playing catch-up with stuff that’s been piling up, which translated to an even split between Star Wars and Marvel, two of my most frequent subjects.  Today, I’m returning to a franchise I haven’t actually taken a look at in over a year, Doctor Who!  For the past few years, Big Chief Studios has been offering up some of the Doctor’s incarnations in high-end format.  Today, I’ll be having a look at their second version of fan-favorite Doctor, Ten!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Tenth Doctor was released by Big Chief in the fall of 2015.  He’s the second version of the Tenth Doctor released by Big Chief; by the time this figure was released, the first one was going for a rather hefty sum, so it was a sensible choice.  This figure is specifically based on Tennant from Series 4, his final year on the show.  The figure stands 12 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation…at least going by the solicitation.  The exact articulation count is a bit difficult to get what with the outfit and all.  I’m willing to trust them on this one.

A lot of the cues that this is a Series 4 Doctor come from the head sculpt, or more specifically, the hair, which is notably springy and bouncy.  The sculpt is definitely one of this figure’s strongest suits.  It’s definitely a very close likeness of Tennant, though I’m not sure that it’s quite spot-on.  It’s a little hard to tell how much of that’s the sculpt, and how much of it’s the paint.  The prototype likeness is a little closer, which leads me to think it’s a paint thing.  It’s still not far off, of course, and as far as likeness goes, it’s about on par with a Hot Toys offering.  The paint’s not terrible.  In fact, it’s better than not terrible; it’s actually quite good.  You just have to accept that Big Chief is slightly less experienced than the likes of Hot Toys and Sideshow, and as such, they won’t be 100% the same quality.  The only real difference, I think, is that there’s a little bit less life behind the eyes.  It’s definitely a very minor, very subtle thing.

Ten’s outfit is made up of seven main pieces.  There’s the jacket, pants, shirt, tie, greatcoat, and shoes.  The clothes are all pretty well-tailored to the body.  Once again, not quite Hot Toys quality, but still pretty convincing for the scale.  The main suit is probably the best work, and replicates the styling of tight, very well-fitted suit that Tennant was known to wear in the show.  The tie is a little bit bulky, but admittedly, that’s the most difficult part to get right without risking it becoming too frail.  The shoes are a sculpted piece, which plug into place; they’re a very convincing recreation of his Chuck Taylors (as someone who wears a pair everyday, I can say they’re quite authentic).  Perhaps the weakest part of the whole ensemble is the great coat.  It’s not *terrible*, but it’s a little large for him, it’s kind of shapeless, and the fabric used doesn’t look quite right.  It’s also really light; it could have used some sort of weathering or something to help it look a little more “real”.  On the plus side, it has a wire running along it’s bottom edge, which allows for some nice, dynamic posing.

Ten is actually quite well-accessorized.  He comes with the basics, of course.  There’s an assortment of hands in all sorts of poses (including one holding the key to the TARDIS), as well as a pair of sonic screwdrivers (both extended and not).  There’s also a collection of episode-specific extras, largely geared towards Series 4-specific items.  He’s got three sets of eye wear: his glasses for when he’s being investigative, a pair of sunglasses, and his 3-D glasses from “Doomsday”. The arms on the glasses don’t quite fit properly over the hair, but you can get them pretty convincingly placed on his face.  He also includes his psychic paper with a note from River Song inviting him to the Library, his FOB watch in open and closed configurations, an Adipose, and an Adipose detector.  Lastly, he includes a display stand with a light up Galifreyian symbol.  And, if you want more display options, you can even remove the front flap of his box to use as a backdrop detailing the interior of the TARDIS.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My Doctor Who collection has largely been given to me by my Super Awesome Fiancee, and it’s been understandably limited to smaller scale items, which have allowed me a wider range of characters for my display.  Big Chief got into the game just as I was weening myself off of the higher-end stuff, so I never bought myself any of them, despite a moderate interest.  While this figure isn’t quite on the level of a Hot Toys offering, he’s still quite a satisfying figure, and definitely great if you’re a Tennant fan.

As you may have pieced together, this figure isn’t from my personal collection.  He was provided to me for review by my friends over at All Time Toys.  They’ve actually got two of him available for purchase via they’re store, should you be interesting in owning this figure for yourself.  If you’re looking for other toys, both old and new, please also check out All Time’s full eBay store front, and take a look at their webstore at alltimetoys.com.

#1745: Iron Man

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

IRON MAN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“A Sleek suit design and technological upgrades let Tony Stark gear up as the Armored Avenger, Iron Man.”

I thought I was more or less done with the Infinity War-themed Marvel Legends, barring any late-game releases (which I’ve no doubt there will be), but no, no there was one more figure, that’s just been sitting there.  Waiting.  Watching.  Other “w” words as well…

Anyway, I’ve looked at most of the film’s major players, but there was one very prominent one missing, namely Tony Stark, aka Iron Man.  In a further effort to work my way through that pile of figures awaiting review, I’ll be looking at Stark’s latest Legends release today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Iron Man is the final figure in the Thanos Series of Marvel Legends, the first Infinity War-themed assortment of the year.  He’s also the last of the four specifically movie-based figures in the line-up.  And, most importantly, he’s the only figure in the set that isn’t needed to built the Thanos figure, which is why everyone was skipping him.  Tony’s wearing his Mark 50 armor from the film, which is also his *only* armor for the film, so I guess it’s a sensible choice, now isn’t it?  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  His construction is very similar to the Mark 46 figure from the Giant Man series, but there are no actual pieces shared between the two.  This guy is an all-new sculpt, which does an okay job of capturing the Bleeding Edge armor’s design from the movie.  It’s not a spot-on recreation; it’s definitely not quite as sleek as the design in the movie.  There are far more pronounced ridges and connecting points, bringing its overall design closer to the Mark 46.  This is likely a symptom of Hasbro working from earlier designs to get the figure out before the movie.  Ultimately, it’s close enough that you know which armor it’s supposed to be, and it’s nowhere near as off as either Captain America or Cull Obsidian.  Fortunately, it’s got some pretty great proportions, and the articulation is also worked in pretty well.  Iron Man’s paintwork is decent and certainly eye-catching, but like the sculpt, it’s not 100% accurate.  The main culprit is the red.  It should really be a deeper, more metallic color than it is.  That being said, the color they’ve used is still nice to look at, so I’m not going to complain too much.  What I will complain about?  Just the figure’s single greatest failing: his accessories.  In the movie, Tony’s using this armor to create all sorts of nano-tech-based weaponry and tools.  What does this figure get?  An extra set of hands and the same blast effects pieces they’ve been using since the 46.  No extra attachments, no unmasked head, no build-a-figure piece.  The extra hands don’t even have hinges on the wrists.  That’s really weak.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I passed on this figure quite a few times at retail.  After seeing the movie, I was really impressed by the armor.  I had some Cosmic Cash to spend at Cosmic Comix, so I ended up grabbing him from them.  And then he sat on my shelf for three months.  I know, bad Ethan.  I’ll be honest, I actually kept forgetting I hadn’t reviewed him, since I’d already looked at the basic figure.  The only real difference between the two is posability, and that’s a little sad.  He’s a figure that could have been a lot of fun–well, okay, he’s still a fair bit of fun, but he could have been a lot more fun than he is.  As it stands, he definitely feels phoned in.

#1744: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL MIGHTY MUGGS

Today I’m shifting gears, but only ever so slightly.  As with the last two days, I’m doing another Mighty Muggs review, because why not?  However, unlike the last two days, this one’s not a Star Wars review.  Yes, after only having Black Panther to start with, I did finally get a second Marvel character, paragon of all that good-natured, patriotic good-ness, Captain America!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America is figure 10 in the Marvel Mighty Muggs line.  That places him within the third assortment.  Cap is extra notable for being the first character in the whole relaunched line to get a second Mugg.  Who would have guessed it would be Cap?  Certainly not me.  The first Cap went for a more traditional design; this one instead gives us his Commander Rogers look, which has certainly gotten some mileage since its introduction in 2010.  It remains a favorite of mine, so I like seeing it turn up here.  Definitely a solid look.  The figure stands 3 1/2 inches tall and he has the usual movement at the shoulders, and some restricted movement at the neck.  Steve uses the basic Mugg body, with a new piece for the hair.  It’s definitely patterned after the look Chris Evans has been sporting in the movies, but there’s nothing wrong with that.  It’s a nice stylized translation of his look, and it works really well in conjunction with the painted details.  Cap, like all the other modern Muggs has three different faces, and a spring-loaded feature to show them all off.  Cap’s options include a confident smile, a goofy open-mouthed grin, and an angry teeth-bearing expression.  Of the three, my favorite’s definitely the confident smile, but all three are definitely fun.  As with the hair, all three faces appear to have some Evans influence going on.  Cap is the first of these guys I’ve reviewed to include an actual accessory: his shield!  Now, if you want to get super nit-picky, it’s a solid shield, and this costume should actually include his hard-light energy reconstruction, but that right there is a very minor thin, and if it bugs you too much, the shield can simply be removed from his hand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had planned on grabbing the basic Captain America when he first hit, but this guy was shown off not too long after.  Given the choice, I opted to wait for this release.  I ended up grabbing him from a Walmart that had just put out a fresh case of the third assortment.  He’s I think my favorite so far of the modern Muggs.  He’s just a very good representation of the character, and given that he’s a variant, that’s really saying something.

#1743: Rey

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

REY

STAR WARS MIGHTY MUGGS

Remember how I was talking about having some Mighty Muggs piled up to review yesterday?  Well, yeah, let’s have a little bit more of that, shall we?  In fact, let’s have some more of the same subline from yesterday!  Yes, it’s time for some more Star Wars, specifically the franchise new lead character Rey!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Rey is figure 02 in the Star Wars Mighty Muggs line, placing her second in the first assortment of figures.  Rey’s design here is taken from The Force Awakens, specifically her appearance from the Starkiller Base sequences.  It’s a little bit surprising given the general leaning towards the Last Jedi designs for the new trilogy characters, but it’s kind of a persistent look.  The figure stands 3 1/2 inches tall and she has three-ish points of articulation, if we’re counting the slight mobility at the neck joint.  Since she’s from TFA‘s final battle sequence, Rey uses the same lightsaber-weilding body that was used for Luke, with a unique hairpiece.  The hairpiece is a nice, stylized summation of her look from the movie, which fits in very well with the piece we saw on Luke.  For Rey’s three facial expressions, she goes for a similar selection to Luke.  She’s got a serious expression, a happy expression, and an angry expression.  Of the three, my definite favorite is the happy one, but the angry one works well, too.  Her stern expression is alright, but the mouth seems oddly small when compared to the other Muggs I’ve looked at.  It just throws her whole look off, and ends up making her look a bit more childish than the others.  But hey, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad, right?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I saw Rey a few times before actually picking her up.  I think I was holding out that I might be just grabbing the whole set of the first series, but I never did get around to that.  I eventually got around to picking up Rey from GameStop while visiting Super Awesome Girlfriend Fiancé there one day.  She’s a nice companion piece to Poe and a pretty fun little figure all around.

#1742: Poe Dameron

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

POE DAMERON

STAR WARS MIGHTY MUGGS

Man, I got a little side-tracked in my reviewing habits, and somehow, I’ve got this whole pile of “new” figures that have now gone months without being reviewed.  So, I guess I gotta make my way through some of that piles.  One of the lines that’s been the most neglected has been Hasbro’s relaunch of Mighty Muggs, which they’ve been trying to set-up as a competitor to Funko’s Pop! line.  Their primary focuses have been Marvel and Star Wars.  Today’s figure is Poe Dameron, from the latter license.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Poe Dameron is figure 9, part of the second assortment of Star Wars Mighty Muggs, which hit shelves a couple months back, right around the time Last Jedi was released on home media, in fact.  Poe’s got a few different designs to go with, so this one goes with his pilot gear.  It’s the one that crosses over from Force Awakens and Last Jedi, so I guess that makes it a reasonable choice.  The figure stands 3 1/2 inches tall and has articulated shoulders, just like the other two I’ve looked at.  Also, since reviewing the last two Muggs, I’ve discovered that the head *can* turn; it’s just really tight, and only ratchets into one of four positions.  Still, it’s better than nothing.  Poe uses the same body as Luke and Black Panther, but with a unique helmet piece, patterned after the helmet he wears in the movie.  It’s pretty well-rendered and captures the look from the movie quite nicely.  Poe, like the other new Muggs, features three different facial expressions.  He’s got serious side-eyed, cocky smile, and intense and teeth-gritty.  They’re all pretty decent, and actually have a solid likeness of Oscar Isaac.  The slightly odd thing is that the cocky smile face doesn’t have the lenses like the other two.  Not really sure why, but it makes giving him an unhelmeted look even easier, provided you can find a proper hair piece.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I grabbed Poe from Target when he was first release.  I was pretty happy when he was announced, and kept an eye out for him as soon as the line started to hit.  He’s not my preferred look for Poe, so I’d definitely like to see another one, but he’s a fun addition to my quickly growing Mighty Muggs collection nonetheless.

#1741: Hoth Rebel Soldier

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

HOTH REBEL SOLDIER

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“The Empire has located the Alliance’s secret headquarters on the Ice Planet Hoth. During the consequent invasion, Rebel Soldiers hold out bravely against an unbeatable ground assault until a retreat salvages their heroic effort.”

When it comes to Star Wars-related army building, the Stormtroopers and their ilk get the lionshare of the attention.  I guess a lot of people like to stack the odds against the heroes a bit, but it’s also a little easier to buy lots of faceless minions.  The Rebels, by comparison, all have a face, making buying a bunch of the same figure for the purposes of an army a little more difficult.  Not impossible, but difficult.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Hoth Rebel Soldier was released in 1997, as part of the third year of Power of the Force II‘s run.  He was one of two Rebel Troopers released that year.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and has the usual 6 points of articulation.  The Hoth Rebel Soldier is a little different than the previously reviewed Endor Rebel Soldier, who was an amalgam of a few soldiers from the movie.  This guy’s actually directly based on one of the soldiers seen in the trenches on Hoth during the Empire’s attack.  The trooper he was based on was even shown on the packaging for this guy, allowing you to pick him out in the movie proper.  While this makes him more screen accurate, it does have the flipside of making him less an army builder and more a very specific background character from the movie.  Honestly, I’m a little surprised he doesn’t have a proper name, like Leber Reidlos or something.  That feels right up the Star Wars EU’s alley.  Wasted opportunity if you ask me.  Anyway, Leber’s sculpt is mostly unique. The legs were shared with the Deluxe Hoth Rebel Soldier from the same year, and the head would later be stuck on the Hoth Luke body for the Saga line in 2003.  That said, the parts were all pretty well sculpted.  The uniform is very sharply defined, especially compared to some of the earlier figures in the line.  There’s a lot of detail going on there.  His head matches up pretty decently with the guy we see on the back of the card (though his goggles are off of his face; a minor change), and likewise features some solid detailing.  Leber’s proportions are not terrible for this line.  I mean, they’re still way jacked up from real life, but at least he looks mostly human (which is better than can be said for another Rebel Trooper released that same year).  His paintwork is kind of monochromatic, as you would expect for a guy that’s trying not to stand out.  It matches pretty well with the movie, and it’s surprisingly well-detailed for a background character.  Leber is packed with a blaster rifle and a survival pack.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Growing up, this was another of the figures that was jointly owned by me and my cousin and kept at our grandmother’s house.  When we finally divied them up, my cousin got this guy, since he was more of a Hoth fan than I.  The figure reviewed here was just recently added to my collection, courtesy of Lost in Time and one of their sidewalk sales.  He’s not a bad figure at all, and I’m actually pleasantly surprised by him.  That said, he’s less an army builder, and more a unique extra to fill up the background of your collection.

The Blaster In Question #0060: Sharp Shot

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

BlasterInQuestion1

SHARP SHOT

DART TAG

sharpshot1It’s always exciting to see new and innovative systems and mechanisms in Nerf blasters, whether they actually work or not.  It’s nice to see the effort and the willingness to try.  What really makes entirely new systems so exciting is how many other blasters use the same old tried and (usually) true methods in between.  Today, we’ll be looking at one of those old classic designs, the slide-primed single shot pistol, specifically the Dart Tag Sharp Shot.  So what sets this one apart from any other single shot pistol out there?  Let’s have a look and find out.

THE BLASTER ITSELF

sharpshot2The Sharp Shot was released in 2011 for the newly revamped Dart Tag line and then again the following year with allegedly improved internals, denoted by a blue trigger.  As mentioned above, it uses functionally the same system we’ve seen on other pistols like the Scout IX-3 or Eliminator where you load a dart in the muzzle, rack the slide and fire.  The big difference between the Sharp Shot and any other similar pistol is really the looks.  Keeping in line with that particular iteration of the Dart Tag series, the Sharp Shot features smooth, rounded edges and a nicely contoured overall shape.  Not only does this serve to look real nice, but it actually works to ensure there aren’t any weird sculpted areas that could create hot shots while using the blaster.  The other thing that was different about the Sharp Shot was the accessory that came with it.  sharpshot3Originally, the blaster was packed with a 2-ended plastic carabiner that had a ball joint swivel in the middle.  The idea behind this was so that you could clip the pistol to a belt loop or whatever so it was on your person but then if you needed to grab it quickly, the ball joint would pop apart with a stout pull, making it act kind of sort of maybe like a holster in theory.  Personally, I never once used it and mine has since gone missing, but I can’t say I feel bad about it.  For the time, the Sharp Shot had ok performance.  It was still a pistol after all, so no one really expected it to shoot like a laser.  In this day and age, however, it doesn’t hold up so great.  I’d say if you have one or can find one for cheap, it feels great in the hand and looks pretty cool to boot, but unless you’re planning on effectively overhauling the entire mechanism, don’t expect it to be much help busting into your younger sibling’s room.  The Sharp Shot comes packaged with the quick detach clip and 4 Dart Tag Velcro whistler darts. 

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION 

I don’t remember too much of how and when I bought this blaster.  It was a few years ago at this point.  I probably bought it mainly for the looks, which is understandable.  I want to keep this one in its original condition, but if I happen to find another one, it might be a good base for a prop blaster, should the need arise.

#1740: Classic White Tiger & Hand Ninja

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

CLASSIC WHITE TIGER & HAND NINJA

MARVEL MINIMATES

The 38th Series of Marvel Minimates was themed around Marvel’s Daredevil-centric “Shadowland” event.  It wasn’t exactly the most memorable event they’ve run in recent years, but the corresponding wave did at the very least serve to showcase a few of Marvel’s street level heroes, as well as giving us our first crack at one of the more established army builders of the Marvel Universe, the Hand.  Today’s set touches on both of those things, giving us lower-tier character White Tiger, alongside a generic Hand Ninja!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Classic White Tiger and the Hand Ninja were the one-per-case variant set for Marvel Minimates Series 38, with this White Tiger being swapped out for the regular set’s more modern rendition.

CLASSIC WHITE TIGER

By the time of “Shadowland,” Hector Ayala had been dead for a little while, and had passed the title and the amulets that gave him his power on to his niece Angela del Toro (who was the White Tiger that participated in “Shadowland”).That said, how else were we going to get a classic White Tiger? The figure stands 2 1/4 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  White Tiger is almost a vanilla ‘mate.  The only deviation from the main base body is a pair of flared gloves.  I suppose an argument could be made for having the amulet be sculpted, but it honestly works fine as is.  Beyond that, the character’s design is meant to be pretty simple, and the ‘mate gets that right.  The paint on this guy is okay, but does have a few drawbacks.  The overall detail work is pretty solid, and I think they’ve done quite a nice job of capturing all of the musculature and such.  The detail lines don’t appear to be a clean black like others in the assortment.  This, coupled with the largely white palette, makes him look a look a little washed out.  I think the most disappointing thing about the paint, though, are the lines depicting the bands going around his shins.  They’re only on the front and outward-facing side of each leg, which looks rather silly, and is especially noticeable on a tampo-reliant figure such as this one.  There were no accessories included for White Tiger.  I’m not sure what he could have been given, but an extra unmasked head or something might have been nice.  As is, he’s quite light on parts.

HAND NINJA

The Hand were major players in the whole “Shadowland” event, and have been rather prominent over on the Daredevil side of things for a while.  Their inclusion here was definitely sensible, and at the time they were certainly a highly demanded army builder.  The Hand Ninja has no shortage of sculpted parts.  There’s a hood, a vest, a sash, wrapped hands, armored boots, and a pair of sheaths for his Sai.  Amazingly, there’s not a single unique piece on this figure.  The hood comes from Series 29’s Moon Knight, the vest from Series 9’s Lady Deathstrike (with the quiver from Series 20’s Hawkeye glued on the back), the sash from the Previews-exclusive Dark Phoenix, the boots from the Dark Avengers Ares, and the sheaths from Series 28’s Deadpool.  Only the wrapped hands are technically new, and they were actually sculpted for this very same series’ Iron Fist ‘mate.  Despite their multitude of origins, the pieces actually go together quite well, resulting in a very cohesive, and quite unique looking, Hand Ninja.  Most impressively, all of these extra parts can be removed and a standard pair of hands and feet swapped out, allowing for an almost completely different classic Hand Ninja. Paint is relatively simple on this guy when you get down to it.  He’s got two different tones of red, which go well together, and then some detail lines on his face/mask and his torso.  Not a lot going on, but it’s all very clean, and the main shade of red is really bright and eye-catching. In addition to the extra hands and feet that facilitate the classic Hand Ninja transition, this figure also includes two Sai, a large sword, a bow, and an arrow.  These weapons allow you to arm up your army of Hand Ninjas in all sorts of different ways, thus adding an extra level of fun to them.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I purchased this pack and the rest of the series brand-new from Cosmic Comix, back when they were first released.  I remember they hit around the same time as the Thor series and Excalibur boxed set, so I had a lot of Minimates going on there.  They were one of my first sets to be purchased while living on my college campus, and I remember sitting at my desk in my dorm room opening them all up.  This set was a surprisingly solid pairing that quite stuck with me.  Classic White Tiger was a sensible choice for a variant.  He’s one of those characters that’s never really been in the focus, but it was nice to get him in figure form nevertheless.  This figure’s definitely on the simpler side, and he has some flaws, but he’s generally well-executed.  After a couple assortments of sort of weak army builders, the Hand Ninja was a breath of fresh air, not only in terms of choice of character, but also in terms of quality of the end figure.  DST put a lot of effort in on this guy, and also showed that you can really do a lot with re-used parts.  Hands (heh) down the strongest figure in this assortment.