“ERNIE KOVACS has a troubled mind, and will go to great lengths to protect the innocent as RORSCHACH.When someone kills an old colleague, his investigation into the death brings mysteries to light and puts him back in touch with the world’s only known super-powered human – DR. MANHATTAN.”
On the plus side, this bio does at least do a better job of working in both characters than yesterday’s set did.Unfortunately, Rorschach’s name is WALTER Kovacs.Ernie Kovacs would be this guy.And, while it’s still up for debate as to whether or not Ernie had a troubled mind, he most definitely wasn’t going around as a costumed vigilante…I think…
Right, the actual review.I should get to that!Here’s some more Watchmen Minimates!As noted by the bio, it’s Rorschach and Dr. Manhattan.Alright!
THE FIGURES THEMSELVES
Like yesterday’s set, Rorschach and Dr. Manhattan are one of the “shared” pairs of Watchmen Minimates, available in both the specialty four pack and as a two pack in the Toys R Us’s assortment. Mine are the two-pack version, but they’re functionally the same.
RORSCHACH
Rorschach is the closest the story gets to a main character, and is probably the most popular character contained there-in.He was originally intended to be The Question, and is honestly the least changed character in that respect.Rorschach’s design in the movie was completely unchanged from the comics, resulting in a ‘mate that can easily work for either version of the character.The figure stands about 2 1/2 inches tall and has the usual 14 points of articulation.He’s built on the basic body, with add-ons for his hat and coat.Both pieces are new to this figure, and they work pretty well.The coat’s a little on the bulky side, but it’s decent enough, and the hat’s one of the better takes on a fedora in this style.Rorschach’s paint is about on par with the pair I looked at yesterday.It’s pretty decent overall, but there’s some slight sloppiness on some of the base paint.The detail lines are also minimal on this guy, so it’s a bit less of what DST’s good at, but what’s there is pretty solid.Rorschach is packed with his grappling hook (a standard Rorschach accessory), as well as an unmasked head and hair, and a clear display stand.The extra head is definitely cool, and my favorite extra.The grapple is okay, but I can’t say I get why every Rorschach has it; I find it to be a rather minor piece.I would have much rather had the aerosol can he uses to escape the cops, or his journal.Also, the lack of extra heads with differing expressions is a little annoying.Still, not a bad selection.
DR. MANHATTAN
Dr. Manhattan is the story’s one true super human, originally planned to be Captain Atom.Visually, Manhattan is one of the story’s most memorable characters, and as such, his design remained essentially the same when they adapted the comic to film.Structurally, Manhattan is just a plain Minimate, with additional parts or anything.It’s certainly well suited to the character.It does mean that all of the heavy lifting is handled by his paint work.He’s done in a semi-transparent blue plastic, which, fun fact, is also glow-in-the-dark.It’s surprisingly powerful, provided you give it a little time to charge up.The detail paint on this guy is phenomenal.All of his parts have detailed musculature, and his face is a spot-on recreation of how he looks in the film.It should also be noted that this is the first Dr. Manhattan figure to forego the usual black shorts seen on all the merchandise.I mean, they still Ken-Doll-ed him; he’s still got to be decent and all, since he’s being sold at retail.Should you want him to be more modest, though, he does include an extra pelvis piece, molded in dark blue, thus replicating the shorts.In addition, he’s also got the standard display stand, as well as a flight stand.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
Like yesterday’s set, I picked this pair up from Toys R Us on my birthday.This pack is more comic-compatible than the last one, which is pretty cool.Manhattan’s just plain awesome, especially for being a ‘mate that could have been super simple and boring.Rorschach’s overall pretty decent, though I’m not sure he translated quite as well to the style.Still, not a bad set, especially if you’re a fan of the source material.
“Secretly the vigilante known as THE COMEDIAN, EDWARD BLAKE continued to work for the government after his crimefighting career, performing various classified and unpleasant tasks.When the highly dangerous killer is himself killed, his old colleagues NITE OWL and RORSCHACH are driven to investigate.”
Sometimes, I like to remember back when I didn’t totally hate everything Zack Snyder touched.His adaptation of Watchmen was just as divisive as anything else he’s done, but I was actually on his side of that one. Anyway, a whole eight years after its release, the film’s gotten a set of Minimates. I’m taking a look at the first pair, The Comedian and Nite Owl, today!
THE FIGURES THEMSELVES
The Comedian and Nite Owl are one of the “shared” pairs of figures for Watchmen Minimates.They were available both in the specialty four pack and as a two pack in the Toys R Us-exclusive assortment.Obviously, mine are the TRU versions, but there aren’t any real differences between the actual figures.
THE COMEDIAN
Though he may be dead at the story’s start, the Comedian is perhaps Watchmen‘s most central figure.He was originally supposed be the Charlton Comics character “Peace Maker,” before DC forced the change.Shame, since it would have been perhaps the only noteworthy thing ever attached to the character.Oh well.Comedian’s look was largely unchanged when going from book to movie, so this guy will work pretty well as either version of the character.The figure stands roughly 2 1/4 inches tall and has the standard 14 points of articulation. In addition to the standard base body, Comedian has add-ons for his hair, shoulder pads/suspenders/belt, and the holsters.The holsters are the same basic pieces that have been in service since the Avengers Black Widow ‘mate, but the other two pieces are new to this figure.The new pieces are generally pretty solid additions.They could possibly have been a little sharper in terms of detail, but the work here is still pretty great.In terms of paint, Comedian is pretty decent overall.The best work is on the detail lines.The face capture’s not only Jeffery Dean Morgan’s likeness, but also his cocky Comedian personality, which is pretty cool.This is obviously a slightly older Comedian, though he does seem to be using any hint of his facial scar.I guess it was pretty downplayed in the movie.The base paintwork is a little sloppier than the line work, but still fairly decent.The biggest issue with the paint is actually something that was beyond DST’s control.He lacks Comedian’s signature smiley face button, due to rights issues associated with that particular image.DST has opted to drop the button entirely, rather than giving us just the blank yellow circle that other companies have gone with.I think I might like it better when it’s just not there; less distracting.Comedian is packed with a pair of silver handguns and a clear display stand.It’s a shame he didn’t get a few more weapons, and possibly an extra head and hair piece for a younger look, but what’s included is fair.
NITE OWL
Nite Owl is my favorite character out of the main Crimebusters in Watchmen (though, it’s actually his predecessor Hollis Mason that is my overall favorite character in the story), and it’s actually Patrick Wilson’s portrayal of him in the movie that helped me form that opinion.I find his book counterpart to be a little bland, but Wilson added a nice sort of lost everyman aspect to him that was endearing.Nite Owl was originally intended to be the Ted Kord version of Blue Beetle, another favorite character of mine.The movie design for Nite Owl was one of the more drastic changes, largely due to the simplicity of the original design; that sort of thing doesn’t tend to work so well on a large screen.Like Comedian, Nite Owl is built on the standard ‘mate body, with add-ons for his mask and cape.Both pieces are new to this figure, and are likely to stay unique to him, since I can’t really see them being of much use for any other characters.They’re both pretty decent pieces, though, like with Comedian, I think the details could stand to be a little sharper.The paint work on Nite Owl is pretty great.The work is all pretty sharp, and unlike Comedian, he’s not missing any essential details.The mask is removable, and reveals a fully detailed Dan Drieber head, glasses and all.I can’t say it’s a fantastic likeness of Patrick Wilson, but it doesn’t look unlike him.I guess he’s just got one of those faces that doesn’t translate well to the style.In addition to the usual display stand, Dan includes a spare hair piece for unmasked display.I think the piece is a little too suave for Dan, to be honest, especially if this is meant to be a “present” day Dan; it should be a little longer and more comb-over-y.It’s not awful, though.I do wish he included an extra mask with the goggles up, since he has that look several times during the movie.
THE FIGURES THEMSELVES
The Watchmen Minimates snuck up on me.At the time of the movie’s release, I was all over the idea of Watchmen ‘mates (in fact, I even made a custom set for myself, albeit a comic based one), but by the time they actually happened, I had largely moved past Watchmen.When the boxed set hit, I wasn’t sure about getting the ‘mates at all.But, I was out on my birthday, and I stopped at Toys R Us, and they had a full set, so I went for it.Getting the ‘mates even got me to sit down and watch the movie again for the first time in several years, and I enjoyed that quite a bit.This is my favorite pair of the ‘mates, and while there are certainly improvement that could be made, I’m very happy with them both.
Oooeeee, look at that.1400 reviews.Another hundred down.Seeming like less of a milestone these days, but I’m noting it nonetheless.I’m noting it the usual way, with a deluxe review of one of my higher-end figures.Today, I turn back to the film that kicked off the milestone reviews, Terminator 2.So far, I’ve looked at both the terminator and the protector from the film, but I haven’t yet looked at one of the franchise’s central characters, Sarah Connor.So, uhh, come with me if you want to…read this review?…Doesn’t have the same ring, does it?
THE FIGURE ITSELF
Sarah was released as figure 119 in Hot Toys’ Movie Masterpiece Series, placing her between Inglorious Basterds’ Aldo Raine and Iron Man 2’s War Machine numerically.Not as themed as other releases, but the T2 figures were all pretty scattered.This figure is based on Sarah’s “terminator” look from around the film’s mid-point, when she goes to kill Miles Dyson.It’s really her most distinct look, and definitely my favorite.Sarah stands roughly 11 inches tall and she’s got 28 points of articulation.
Let’s start things off by looking at Sarah’s head sculpt.While heads are usually one of HT’s stronger suits, this one’s not one of their best offerings.The prototype actually looked pretty good, but it seems something was lost in the manufacturing process.It’s far from a terrible sculpt, of course.The resemblance to Linda Hamilton is passing; it’s not spot-on, but it’s decent enough that you can tell who it is.I think it’s the hair that’s throwing it off.While I’m definitely a fan of the hair being sculpted, rather than rooted, and the overall shaping and detailing is pretty solid.The biggest issue is with the bangs, which are just a little too short; they really should be getting closer to her eyes, and I think that throws off the likeness.The bangs actually swap out, and there’s another pair that’s parted and closer to the head.It doesn’t really improve the likeness, but it does allow for the addition of the included hat.The paintwork on the head is generally up to the usual HT quality.The only real flaw is the color of the hair, which is a touch too dark for Hamilton.It’s not that far off, though, so it’s pretty minor, all things considered.
Sarah’s costume is made up of four main pieces.She’s got a shirt, pants, a tactical vest, and a belt.All of the pieces are very well tailored to the figure.The vest in particular is really cool.All of the pockets open and the the clasps all work like they’re supposed to.There’s also a pair of sculpted boots, which are very nicely sculpted, and well scaled to the figure.She’s also got a watch and a wristband, which are mostly there to hide the wrist joints on the arms.They do that job well, and add some extra character to the figure as well.
The underlying body is largely unique to Sarah.The arms in particular are unique; they’re armatures with a rubber coating over them.They actually look quite a bit like Hamilton’s arms from the film, and she’s even got her scar on the left shoulder.The rest of the body is decent, but could be a little more tailored to the figure.The shoulder’s are definitely too narrow, and the neck is a little thin, which makes the head look really large comparatively.Once again, nothing too terrible, but it’s definitely a little off.
Sarah’s accessories are definitely this figure’s strongest suit.She includes:
6 hands
Hat
Sunglasses
Shotgun
Assault Rifle
Handgun
Knife
Display stand
She’s got the basic relaxed hands, as well as a right trigger finger hand, a left gripping hand, a a right cigarette holding hand (with removable cigarette!), and a right hand for holding her knife.They’re all very nicely sculpted and quite realistic looking.They’re a little hard to swap the first time, but once you swap them a few times, they go alright.
The hat works in conjunction with the alternate bangs piece.It’s cloth, and a little oversized, but it’s generally a pretty nice piece.Just, whatever you do, don’t leave it on for long periods of time.It’ll stain her forehead!
The sunglasses are very definitely my favorite piece.They’re just amazingly detailed, perfectly scaled, and sit amazingly well on the figure’s face.I wish I looked this good in sunglasses.
The shotgun, assault rifle, and handgun are close runners up to the glasses.They all have a number of moving pieces and all of the details that you’d see on the full scale weapons.The shotgun has a folding stock, as well as five removable rounds.The assault rifle includes a removable scope, rail, and silencer, allowing for a few different looks.The handgun has a removable clip, and the clip even has a removable bullet at the very top, which seems like it’s asking to be lost.
The knife is a key piece to the film, so it’s great that it was included here.Like the other weapons, it’s very well scaled and detailed.It includes a sheath, which feels a little cheap and quick by comparison, but it’s nice to have the option of putting the knife away, I guess.
Lastly, there’s the display stand.It’s the same basic oval stand we’ve seen a number of times before.It gets the job done, and it looks pretty decent, so that’s good.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
Sarah is a very early Hot Toys figure for me.I believe she was my third.She’s also got the notoriety of being the very first Hot Toys figure I bought for myself.I ordered her off of Amazon, in anticipation of getting the T-1000 figure later that year.She’s not a perfect figure, and is definitely the weakest of my three T2 figures, but she’s still a pretty darn fun figure in her own right, and she completes one of my favorite sets of HT figures.
“Blinded as a young boy and imbued with extraordinary senses, Matt Murdock fights injustice by day as a lawyer and by night as the Super Hero ‘Daredevil’”
This past Friday saw the release of The Defenders, Marvel’s big team-up series formed out of their four Netflix TV series.It’s an event several years in the making, so it’s pretty cool to see it finally hit.No doubt in an effort to tie-in with the show’s release, Hasbro has just put out their first series of Marvel Legends based around the four shows.Earlier today, Super Awesome Girlfriend took a look at Punisher from that line, and I’ll be having a look at my personal favorite of the Defenders, Daredevil!
THE FIGURE ITSELF
Daredevil is figure 1 in the “Man-Thing Series” of Marvel Legends. The series takes its cues from the “Marvel Knights” banner which has served as the basis of the shows so far.The set’s made up of four show-based figures and two comic-based, with a comic-based Build-A-Figure.Obviously, DD is one of the four show-based.The figure stands a little over 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.He’s got an all-new sculpt, based on Matt’s costume from the end of Daredevil Season 1/very beginning of Season 2 (the mask is the giveaway; it’s the original, more angular design).The sculpt is 100% new to this figure, though I wouldn’t be shocked to see a lot of it turn up again in some capacity, should Hasbro decide to do a Season 2 version.The sculpt is, surprisingly, a little bit of a mixed bag for me.Given Hasbro’s recent track record, I was expecting them to knock this one out of the park, but they haven’t quite managed that.As a whole, I’m happy with the work that’s been done.The surface details are all great. The detail work on the costume is awesome; the texturing is top notch, and the details look to have been lifted right from the on-screen costume.It’s the proportions of the figure that throw things off.My biggest issue is with the shoulders, which just seem too far set out from the rest of the body, giving him this odd sort of tortilla chip thing.They just always seem to be sitting slightly the wrong way.The torso’s also a little flat, but my other main issue is with the head.As with the rest of the body, the surface details are great, and he even has a decent resemblance to Charlie Cox…if Charlie Cox were a bit wider than he is in real life.Not heftier, or fatter; just wider.It honestly looks like the head got slightly squished.Which is a shame, because if it were just a little slimmer, it’d be a spot-on sculpt.As far as the paint work goes, DD is pretty decent overall.The Netflix figures have the same printed faces seen with Ragnarok Loki.For Matt, this is really just limited to the lower half of his face.The printing on mine is actually slightly skewed to the left of his face, which makes him look just a tiny bit off.It’s not terrible, but I did notice it upon close examination.On a figure with more proper placement, I’m sure the details look great, though.The rest of the figure is the traditional paint methods, which are fairly cleanly applied.They did miss applying the black details to the front of his mask, around his eyes.It’s not super awful looking (since the design of the cowl means that part of the mask catches shade naturally), but it does make me wonder if they were maybe working from the Season 2 design for the colors?[EDIT: after looking through some images of the costume, it looks like the front of the mask was left unshaded in Season 1, and the black was added at the start of Season 2, making this figure definitively a Season 1 DD]Matt is packed with his signature billy clubs (which are finally a new mold; thank you show accuracy!), as well as a pair of fists, and the head of the BAF Man-Thing.I’m a little surprised by the lack of an extra head, either unmasked or Season 2, but I guess that might have been a bit much for a figure that was 100% new sculpt.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
I’ve been anxiously waiting for this figure pretty much since I finished Daredevil Season 1 back in 2015.When he was finally announced, I was ecstatic.While still on the look out for the freaking Homecoming Series (which I finally finished finding just yesterday), I ended up finding this guy and Punisher at Power Comics in Myrtle Beach.He’s not perfect.I was a little bummed about that, truth be told.But, over the course of writing this review, I messed around with him some more, and I’m content with him.Of course, now I’m tempted by the DST version coming later this year, to see if that one’s better…
Heyo! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Last time, I was trying to review Mass Effect minimates (which I still need to finish, oops…) but I’m going to completely switch gears this time. Today, I’m going to introduce you guys to my gun-toting cinnamon roll Frankie (aka The Punisher)! Warning, throughout this review I will mostly call him Frankie, I know unprofessional –sue me .
THE FIGURE ITSELF
This figure is specifically designed after the character portrayed in the second season of Daredevil on Netflix. He comes in the same series of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends as Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and the build-a-figure Man Thing (who came up with that name???).
Frankie, here, stands at about 6 ½ inches tall with 30 points of articulation. According to Ethan, Frankie’s body is not reused from another figure; in fact, he is completely his own with all new pieces. What’s cool about this figure, and a lot of the newer Marvel Legends, is that some of his features are printed on. In this case, Frankie’s face and the skull on his chest have been printed, not painted, on. This allows for more precise detailing to be made on the figures, for Frankie it means that you can see a nice five-o-clock shadow going on there and a couple of small scars on his nose. I actually really like how Frankie’s face turned out, the detailing is fantastic and they were able to capture his serious, broody, and adorable face really well. The detailing on his chest is pretty cool as well. You can see all the straps and buckles on his bullet-proof vest, they’re not painted on but are part of the chest’s sculpt. The print job on the vest is well done as well; it really does look like paint on a vest, and even includes implied rough texture of the vest’s material and a few drips of running paint. Frankie’s legs have a lot of subtle detail, with wrinkles, pockets, and rough texturing for the pants. I find his boots to be really interesting, while just normal plain combat boots, they were able to make it look like his pants were stuffed into his boots and not look like all one entity. His jacket appears to be removable, but suggest leaving it on because he would look weird without it, especially since his arms are sculpted to be wrinkly like coat sleeves. I also have to say a quick thing about his hands; if you look closely you can see the suggestions of veins and tendons, which is a neat little detailing. The paint on the figure is okay, it’s just black and skin tones. There are a few spots where his hair (mostly at the edge of his bangs is peach instead of black, and at the corners of his jaw his five-o-clock shadow doesn’t completely cover it.
For accessories, Frankie comes with two guns. The first is just your average pistol, painted silver with a textured handle and other small detailing related to that style of gun. The second is some kind of rifle…I’m not gonna lie, I don’t know guns and our gun guy isn’t here to tell me all the cool things about the larger of Frankie’s guns, including what the hell to call it. It’s a cool looking gun that I’m sure is supposed to fire rather rapidly, with a scope, a long, slightly curved magazine clip, and other gun do-hickeys. I’m sorry, I don’t know guns, you’ll have to forgive me or wait for this to be updated later with more (accurate) details on the gun. All I know is that Frankie’s larger gun is black and pretty badass looking.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
Frankie came to me while we were packing up our apartment to move elsewhere. I was having a pretty stressful time, and my super sweet boyfriend decided to get me this figure when he saw it to try to help me out some. I fell in love with my gun-toting cinnamon roll after watching his part in Daredevil season two. My (over) enthusiastic love for the Punisher surprised Ethan a lot, especially since I normally don’t care for morally gray characters, but Frankie was just different and stole my heart with his sad brooding and love for lots of bullets. So when Ethan saw that they were making this figure he showed me and I’m sure our neighbors could hear my fangirl-screaming three-floors up, and I wanted one ever since. I love this design of the Punisher and I’m so happy he’s a part of my growing collection of figures! I’m also super excited for his Netflix show, and you can bet your bum I’m gonna watch it with this figure in hand!
“He’s the greatest sword fighter of all time! Whether he’s fighting the terrifying Hydra, or battling the dangerous Nessus, Hercules fights the bravest of battles with his mighty sword and shield!”
You may have noticed a slight theme to the last few Sundays here at the Figure in Question.That theme is Disney’s Hercules.Today, I’m continuing that theme, though I can’t make any promises for keeping it going past this week.I’ve looked at a variant of Herc, as well as his main foe Hades, but I’ve yet to just look at the standard Hercules.That changes today.
THE FIGURE ITSELF
Sword Fighting Hercules is another entry in the Basic Assortment of Disney’s Hercules figures from Mattel.As noted in the intro, this was the line’s take on Herc’s standard hero togs he sports for the majority of the film’s run-time.The figure stands about 6 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.In a change from the last two figures I’ve looked at from this line, this guy actually gets some elbow movement, which is cool, but it’s at the cost of all of his leg movement.You win some, you lose some. It does cause him to be a touch harder to keep standing than the Hydra Slaying variant, but he’s mostly pretty manageable. The elbows are a little loose, presumably to aid in the use of action features, but still rather useful. Also: neck articulation! That sure is nice. Being able to look side to side and all. Like the other two, this figure’s sculpt diverges somewhat from his film counterpart. This one is probably the most faithful of the three I have; most of the changes come from simply translating him into three dimensions. There are a few slight oddities to his proportions. His neck’s rather long, as are the arms. Still, not a bad sculpt overall. Like his Hydra Slaying counterpart, Sword Fighting Herc has a removable cloth cape. The same cape, in fact (exactly the same in my case; this guy’s borrowing his). If you want to get technical, it should be a little brighter to be accurate to the film, but it works nonetheless. The paintwork on this guy is generally pretty decent. The colors are a little bit more washed out than in the film, but they aren’t far off, and the overall look is quite nice. Herc is packed with his sword (obviously), as well as his shield. My figure is missing the shield, but that’s really the less essential piece, so I’m not losing sleep over it.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
After finding Hydra Slaying Herc and Hades, I was figuring that would be it for my whole Hercules collection, especially since this guy in particular had a rather high after market price. Then I found this guy at Yesterday’s Fun over the summer, sans cape. Since I already had the cape from the Hyda Herc, I was able to put together a mostly complete figure for a fraction of his going rate. As with the Hydra variant, this figure was a pretty pleasant surprise, and I’m very happy to have found him.
If I had to attribute my love for toy blasters to one thing, it’s wanting to recreate my favorite video games in real life, one of the most notable examples being the Halo franchise. These two were brought together a couple years ago when Mattel gained the Halo license for its BoomCo line of blasters. The thing is, while trying to create accurate replicas of the in-game weapons while also fitting them around recycled, but mostly functional mechanics, they ended up being pretty disappointing, not really doing a good job on either front. Cue Hasbro who launched the Alien Menace Nerf line, seemingly as a direct counter to Boomco’s Halo branded products. I’ve already reviewed the Ravager from the series, but today I’ll be taking a look at one of the line’s brand new additions, the Voidcaster.
THE BLASTER ITSELF
The Voidcaster was released in 2017 as part of the TRU exclusive Alien Menace line. If you’ve read my review of the Ravager from the same line, you’ll know that one of the blaster’s highlights were the amount of fine detail and texture work put into the shell. The same is true for the Voidcaster which sports faux ray skin, bone, and even crystalline elements throughout it’s uniquely molded shell. Internally, the Voidcaster borrows its primary mechanism from the Snapfire 8 of the Dart Tag line. Unlike most other blasters, the Voidcaster does not require batteries nor does it need to be manually cycled between shots. The large trigger —which takes up almost the entire length of the grip— uses its long pull to push the plunger back, releasing it once the trigger has been compressed fully. Aside from using stored air pressure in a tank, this is the only way I am aware of to achieve a semi-automatic blaster without the need for batteries. The blaster has 4 barrels linked via smart AR. The overall shape of the blaster is reminiscent of the iconic plasma rifle from the Halo series and the 8 dart holders on the bottom portion of the blaster, when fully loaded, resemble design features of the needler from the same games. The blaster feels solid in the hand but it does suffer from a lack of secondary grip points, making one-handed firing practically the only option, however, the semi-auto nature of the blaster means that dual wielding is not a problem. Accuracy is a bit of a weak point for the blaster. By extending the trigger down the front of the grip, compressing the spring is much easier than with a single finger trigger, but it also means the blaster jostles around a fair bit when firing, more so if firing in rapid succession. Because priming the blaster relies on the grip strength of the user, and because it is a toy for children, the spring driving the plunger is not especially strong and as such, power and distance are noticeably sub-par compared to more conventional blasters. This is definitely an indoor blaster and if you can manage to get your hands on two of them, I highly recommend dual wielding for busting into your younger siblings’ rooms and blasting away. The included darts are a little frustrating for someone like me who has to keep blasters with the darts they are meant to use. In this case, given the 4 barrels and 8 dart holders on the blaster, I would have like it to include enough to completely fill all available spaces, but sadly it only comes packaged with 8. Additionally, the previous 2 Alien Menace blasters came with darts that had grey bodies and purple tips. The Voidcaster’s included darts are grey with blue tips and, as of me writing this, are the only ones with this color scheme. Available Alien Menace dart packs only feature purple tips.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
I was very excited for this blaster since it was announced in Nerf’s pre-Toy Fair press release. Between then and now, though, there had been basically no word on it. I was caught quite off guard when I found it at a TRU in South Carolina, so much so that I bought it then and there without a second thought. It’s a really fun snappy little blaster with some really cool aesthetics, and it’s only enhance by the addition of a second for your other hand.
After producing one of the most expansive DC toylines ever in the ‘80s with Super Powers, Kenner ran into some issues keeping up with the whole “expansive” aspect as they moved into the ‘90s.If it wasn’t Batman, it really wasn’t selling.They tried out a Superman line, Man of Steel, in the mid-90s, which was at best moderately successful.After two series at retail (the second of which was virtually nonexistent) the line’s third series was scrapped.Fortunately, two of the proposed figures were salvaged and offered later down the line as exclusives.I’ll be looking at one of those two, prospective Superman-replacement Eradicator, today.
THE FIGURE ITSELF
Eradicator was offered by ToyFare magazine as a mail-away offer, extending Kenner’s Man of Steel line by one figure.He’s based on Eradicator’s design from the “Reign of the Supermen” arc, which was, at the time of this figure’s release, the character’s only design.The figure stands about 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation. His sculpt was unique to him, and is a pretty decent recreation of Eradicator’s page bound counterpart.He’s a little more pre-posed than the earlier Man of Steel figures, showcasing Kenner’s steady move into the Total Justice style of pre-posed figures.Eradicator is at least not ridiculously pre-posed; the slight upturn of the arms at the elbows makes sense for his energy-based powers, and the slight step in his legs helps to keep him balanced with the slightly heavy cape piece.The head sculpt has a rather intense expression, which was fairly in character for Eradicator, and offered a nice change from the standard Superman sculpts.The hands on the figure do seem a little on the large side, but perhaps it’t just the pose throwing things off.His cape is a removable piece, which plugs into place.It’s a little on the bulky side, but not terribly so.Underneath is a fully detailed sculpt, which actually has a pretty nifty light-piped feature where the usual logo would be.Eradicator’s paintwork is pretty decent; the application is mostly clean and sharp.The contrast could maybe bee a little higher on the blue sections of the costume, but the metallic sheen is still pretty cool.Also pretty cool?The translucent feature on his arms.That’s a lot of fun.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
Eradicator predates me really getting a lot of the ToyFare exclusives, so I didn’t get him new.I’ve been on the look out for one recently, and I ended up fishing this guy out of 2nd Chance Toyz’s $1 bin.He was still in his little baggie and everything!This guy’s okay overall.Not the most exciting figure of all time, but he’s a solid rendition of the character.
“A larger version of the standard combat AT-AT, the AT-ACT walker features a dedicated cargo bed for the transportation of heavy building materials or combat munitions. It was deployed at major Imperial construction projects, such as shipyards and sprawling research installations.”
Toy Fans can be a bit stubborn and short-sighted sometimes.There’s this innate inability to see that not every product is aimed at them, and that adult collectors only make up a very small fraction of the target audience of any given mass produced line. This means that there’s whole chunks of product not meant for us in the slightest, or at the very least, items that are designed with kids in mind first and adult collectors second.After going pretty hardcore into the adult collector sphere for a while, Hasbro has shifted their Star Wars product into a more toy-etic form, in an effort to maximize sales and appeal to the new generations of collectors being brought in by the franchise’s newest films.The new product has been an overall success for Hasbro, but some of the more hardcore sections of the fanbase have been less than pleased.There’s been a lot of crying foul, particularly when it comes to the various new vehicles, which have proved quite divisive.One of the most divisive was today’s item, the Rapid Fire Imperial AT-ACT.
THE VEHICLE ITSELF
The AT-ACT is part of Hasbro’s Star Wars: Rogue One line.It was released about a month or so after the first big product launch for Rogue One.As with the two X-Wings and the TIE Fighter, there’s a bit of assembly required when you open up the AT-ACT.The the legs, small blaster stalks for the head, and the cargo bed are packed separately from the main base body and head, and they need to be snapped into place (which takes a fair bit of force, let me tell you).Once fully assembled, the AT-ACT stands 16 inches tall and 12 inches deep.That’s far from accurate scaling for the 3 3/4 inch figures, which was a point of contention for some collectors.It should really be twice the size at least, if not even larger, since the AT-ACT was even larger than the AT-AT.To give a frame of reference, there’s a shot in Rogue One of an X-Wing fighter flying through the open cargo hold of one of these things.At best, you can probably get one of the old Action Fleet X-Wings through there.That being said, at the current size the AT-ACT’s large enough to dwarf just about everything else in a collection, all while keeping it to a manageable size for production and storage purposes.Could it have been larger? Perhaps, but for most people it’s not going to make a huge difference, and this is hardly the first time a Star Wars vehicle has been underscaled for a toyline.The sculpt on the AT-ACT does a decent enough job translating the film design into plastic form.The important details are all there, and it matches aesthetically with the vehicles from Force Awakens and the like.There’s a little bit of cheating in a few spots (such as the slightly larger head relative to the rest of the body) which has been done to maximize playability with the basic figures, but the overall appearance is still fairly close to the source material.When it comes to playability, there are two main spots that you can place the figures.Obviously, there’s a spot in the cockpit for the driver.While the film’s design has spots for two drivers, this one’s just got space for the one.This is in part due to the down-scaling, but also due to offering storage space for the four Nerf darts used by the firing feature, which I’ll touch on in a little bit.The other main spot for figures is in the main body’s removable cargo bed.It’s actually a pretty neat bit; the sides fold down on both sides, revealing a nicely detailed interior, as well as a plethora of footpegs to hold figures in place.There are even spots for the troopers to stow their rifles, which is a cool touch.The bed can be removed and deployed as a cool little base or installation, which also reveals the interior of the AT-ACT proper.There are even more details, as well as two panels that flip up to reveal footwells that can be used for standing space or additional storage.Paint is minimal on the AT-ACT, but not entirely absent; there’s some minor work throughout, and it’s all pretty decently applied.There’s also a sheet of decals to pick up some of the slack, and those work pretty well too.The AT-ACT is packed with three figures (which I’ll look at in just a second) as well as a cannon and a zipline, both of which can be plugged into either the main body of the vehicle or the cargo bed.A major selling point of this set was the two included action features.To make use of the features will require four D batteries.Both play features can be accessed using the various buttons on the AT-ACT’s back, which can be a little difficult to use.Fortunately, the AT-ACT is Bluetooth-enabled.You can download the “Star Wars: Studio FX” app to your phone and use it to control the AT-ACT remotely, which is a lot of fun.Onto the actual features!The first feature is the walking ability, which is pretty decent.It’s slow, and this thing definitely needs to be on a flat, uncarpeted surface to work best, but it’s an amusing feature.There are a number of associated sound effects and such, which help to sell the feature.There’s also a head movement capability worked into this, which is a little difficult to really get working, but nice nonetheless.The second feature is the titular “rapid fire” feature, which replicates the AT-ACT’s blaster capabilities through use of Nerf mechanics.There are four included Elite-style Nerf darts to use, and I find the feature to be generally pretty amusing myself.Don’t take my word for it, though.Here’s a word from the FiQ’s resident Nerf expert, Tim. Quoth Tim:
“With such an extensive history of military manufacturing such as G.I. Joe, Nerf, and Furby, it’s not surprising that the Galactic Empire contracted Hasbro to help develop weapons like the ones seen on the AT-ACT. The dart cannon in the walker’s head is optimized for size, using a greatly miniaturized version of the tried-and-true flywheel mechanisms seen in blasters like the Stryfe. The cannon uses a gravity-fed, 4-round magazine and an electronic pusher to feed the darts into the itty bitty flywheels, producing some rather hilariously flaccid results especially after the ominous revving noise that precedes each shot. Also, just as a fun side note, if we can assume the darts are in scale with the pilot figure, the full size projectiles would be almost 4-1/2 feet long.”
SERGEANT JYN ERSO
The first of the three included figures is the film’s leading lady, Sergeant Jyn Erso.As the main character, I suppose it makes sense to pack her in again, and they were undoubtedly trying to avoid the issues caused by leaving Rey out of the Millennium Falcon from TFA.That being said, I don’t believe Jyn ever actually interacts with an AT-ACT in the film, so her inclusion does seem a little bit out there.The figure stands about 3 1/2 inches tall and she has 5 points of articulation.She uses the same sculpt as the Jedha variant of Jyn from Series 2 of the main line.Of course, I never got that figure, so this one’s new to me.It’s a pretty decent sculpt, and I think I like this one more than the Eadu version.The likeness to Felicity Jones is definitely improved.The paintwork also appears to be a step-up from the single-carded released.The basic colors are all the same, but the application is a lot sharper, and she’s also got some extra detailing on the legs, indicating she’s been running around on Scarif’s beaches for a bit (not that it happens in the final film, but hey, let’s go with it).It’s a little on the heavy side, but it looks decent enough.Jyn is packed with her blaster, which is painted silver, rather than molded like the single releases, which looks a lot better.
IMPERIAL AT-ACT DRIVER
The AT-ACT isn’t going to get very far without someone to drive it, right?Well, as luck would have it, the second figure included with the AT-ACT is the Imperial AT-ACT Driver.This is easily the most sensible of the three figures included.The figure stands about 4 inches tall and he has the usual 5 points of articulation (though the hips are a bit limited).The larger scale AT-ACT Driver was a total parts re-use, but I don’t think that’s the case here.He’s definitely got some similarities to the basic Shoretrooper, but there are enough subtle differences between the two to illustrate that they aren’t made from the same molds.It’s a little weird that they aren’t the same sculpt, though, because the AT-ACT Driver has some slight inaccuracies to his design that would totally come from sharing parts with the Shoretrooper.Most glaringly, the skirting on his belt; the driver should have the same style of belt as the Hovertank Driver, but instead he’s got the Shoretrooper skirt, just painted the same color as the pants.It’s an odd choice.The other problem with the presence of the skirt is that it impedes the movement on his hips.Normally, I’m not a huge stickler about such things, but given that this figure’s whole purpose is being able to sit in the cockpit of the vehicle he was included with, it’s more than a little annoying.In terms of paint, this guy is fairly decent.Like the larger scale figure, he uses the deco of the AT-ACT Commander, as denoted by the grey on his shoulders.Where the larger figure kept the dark brown and bone white of the Tank Driver, this figure goes for a more straight black and white scheme.It’s not terrible, just different.The figure includes a large blaster rifle, which is the same one included with the two Scarif Troopers.
C2-B5
I can’t say I know much about ol’ C2 here, given its complete lack of presence in the final version of Rogue One.There were a few potential endings floating around, I suppose it’s possible C2 played a role in one of those.Or, perhaps Hasbro just really wanted to put an astromech in this set.It’s Star Wars.It wouldn’t be right if they didn’t get an astromech droid in there somewhere.This figure’s about 2 1/2 inches tall and has 3 points of articulation.C2’s a head-to-toe repaint of the Mission Series R2-D2 (which was re-released for Force Awakens as well).It’s a pretty standard astromech sculpt, so that’s reasonable.It’s a shame it couldn’t have been one of the slightly better articulated R2s, but they’re undoubtedly going for consistency here.Instead of the usual R2 colors, C2 is done up in a more imperial dark grey and silver.Not a bad look, though perhaps not the most exciting color scheme.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
I was intrigued by this set when the Rogue One product started hitting, but the initial $300 price tag was just too much for me.Rather quickly after the holidays, Target started marking it down to $150.At that price, I was very much tempted, but my finances at the time didn’t really allow me to drop that much on one item.I mentioned it to my parents, but that was kind of the end of it.It disappeared from shelves, and I convinced myself that I hadn’t really needed it that much.Flash forward to my birthday this year, when I unwrapped this.Apparently, mentioning my interest in it to my parents was *not* the end of it.My mom went out the very next day and bought this, and then they hung onto it for six months.This thing got a lot of flak from the fanbase, and perhaps some of it was deserved, but this is a really, really fun toy.I’m definitely very happy to have it!
“Adrian Toomes uses a specialized flying suit to soar through the skies as the Vulture – but when this winged menace threatens justice, it’s up to Spider-Man to swing in and stop him in his flight.”
Didn’t I *just* review a Vulture & Spider-Man two-pack?It’s like Hasbro has a reason to be releasing multiple Spideys and Vultures all of the sudden.I mean, I guess it could be the movie, but I’m not sure.As has become the norm these days, Hasbro’s taking advantage of the hype from this new movie and using it to put out a few comics-based figures in addition to all the movie fare.Today’s focus set is a pair of those figures.Let’s check them out!
THE FIGURES THEMSELVES
Vulture and Spider-Man are a Walmart-exclusive two-pack, as part of Hasbro’s 6-inch Marvel Legends.They started hitting not too long before Homecoming’s release.
VULTURE
It’s been twelve years since we got a comics Vulture.Seems like a reasonable waiting period to me.Where the last one was a classic Vulture, this one’s actually based on his Ultimate counterpart (who, if you want to get technical, isn’t Adrian Toomes like the bio says; he’s actually Blackie Drago.Of course, the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon uses this basic design for Toomes as the Vulture, so I guess it’s not totally inaccurate.Also, few enough people know Vulture at all, we probably shouldn’t be throwing a whole second, more obscure character at them.This is a really long parenthetical).The Ultimate costume isn’t that far removed from the classic design, just a bit more armored and sleek, and the wings are different.The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.He’s built on the Pizza Spidey body, with a new head, torso, pelvis, and forearms. The new pieces mesh pretty well with the old, and he replicates Mark Bagely’s artwork for the character very well.The head in particular really gets that Bagley style down.I really enjoy the crazy grin he’s got going on.Sure, he’s a little young for my preferred Vulture, but that’s accurate to the source material, so I’m not going to complain.One thing I will complain about ever so slightly is the wings.Moving past the fact that I’m not super into the Ultimate Vulture styled wings (they just look too much like Archangel’s wings), I’m annoyed that they aren’t at all articulated.They plug into place, and due to the way they attach, they don’t have any sort of movement.It’s kind of boring.I mean, they still look cool, but I just wanted a little more out of them.Vulture’s paint work is pretty solid.It’s very green, but it’s a few shades of nice, metallic green.Everything is nice and sharply applied, and the colors all accent each other well.In addition to the removable wings, this guy also includes an extra, helmeted head, which is based on his appearance from the cartoon.It’s a fun extra, and makes for a cool alternate look.
SPIDER-MAN
Can’t have a Spider-Man multi-pack without another Spider-Man, I suppose.This one’s a slight re-deco of the Ultimate Spider-Man from the Space Venom series.I didn’t get that figure, but I did get Miles, who uses the same sculpt.Miles was a very good figure, and by extension, this guy’s quite good too.He has essentially the same paint work as the Space Venom figure, but with two minor changes.First, the blue has been changed to a bolder, less teal shade.Second, he lacks the stripes of red running down his arms.Why make these changes? Because now, instead of being an Ultimate comics version of Peter, he’s Peter from the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon.Which means this is actually another Spider-Verse figure.I can get behind that.The figure lacks the unmasked head, right fist, and left thwip hand of his single-release counterpart, which is a bit of a letdown, but he does at least get both open gesture hands.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
I saw this set a few times and passed on it.Vulture’s never been super high on my list, and the Ultimate design even less so.Plus, I hardly needed another essentially standard Spider-Man.I ended up grabbing this set because while I was out looking for the Homecoming series, I came across this pair on clearance for a 50% mark-down, at which point I was essentially just paying for the Vulture figure.For that price, it seemed more worth it to me.Vulture’s a decent enough figure overall.I have some minor issues, but he’ll do.Spider-Man’s decent in his own right, but is definitely a “more of the same” sort of deal.I feel like it would have been nice to get a more unique variant, but at least this one gets us another Spider-Verse entry.
Dr. Manhattan is the story’s one true super human, originally planned to be Captain Atom. Visually, Manhattan is one of the story’s most memorable characters, and as such, his design remained essentially the same when they adapted the comic to film. Structurally, Manhattan is just a plain Minimate, with additional parts or anything. It’s certainly well suited to the character. It does mean that all of the heavy lifting is handled by his paint work. He’s done in a semi-transparent blue plastic, which, fun fact, is also glow-in-the-dark. It’s surprisingly powerful, provided you give it a little time to charge 
up. The detail paint on this guy is phenomenal. All of his parts have detailed musculature, and his face is a spot-on recreation of how he looks in the film. It should also be noted that this is the first Dr. Manhattan figure to forego the usual black shorts seen on all the merchandise. I mean, they still Ken-Doll-ed him; he’s still got to be decent and all, since he’s being sold at retail. Should you want him to be more modest, though, he does include an extra pelvis piece, molded in dark blue, thus replicating the shorts. In addition, he’s also got the standard display stand, as well as a flight stand.
The Figure In Question 