#1295: Egyptian Catwoman & Batman

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

EGYPTIAN CATWOMAN & BATMAN

LEGENDS OF BATMAN (KENNER)

In an effort to prevent this site from becoming all Marvel Legends all the time, and risking becoming too monotonous, today I’m going to be looking at a DC-related item.  Just to add a bit of variety.  Now, yesterday, I looked at a caped vigilante of the night with a bit of an Egyptian flair.  Today, I’ll be looking at…a caped vigilante of the night with a bit of an Egyptian flair.  The more things, the more they stay the same, right?  Today’s review takes us once more to Kenner’s Legends of Batman line from the ‘90s.  While prior reviews have focused primarily on the line’s pirate-sub-line, this time we’re looking at another of the goofy reimaginings, with Egyptian Batman and his foe Egyptian Catwoman!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Egyptian Catwoman and Batman were released in 1996 as one of a pair of two-packs in the Legends of Batman line (the other two-pack was the previously reviewed Pirate Two-Face & Pirate Batman).  Like most of the goofy variants from this line, these two were original creations of Kenner, and had no ties to the comics beyond being Batman and Catwoman.

CATWOMAN

“Ancient Egypt revered the cat—with the exception of Egyptian Catwoman.  The mightiest woman pharaoh ever to rule, Egyptian Catwoman tainted the royal throne through her misuse of her immense power.  Forcing whole nations into slavery to build her lavish palace, pyramids, and towering monoliths, Egyptian Catwoman was despised and feared throughout the land.  Only her sworn enemy, Egyptian Batman, could stand up to her evil-doings and massive cat-claw battle staff to release her unfortunate subjects from her iron rule.”

Unlike Two-Face, it would seem Egyptian Catwoman is a markedly different character from her main universe character.  With that said, despite what her bio may insist, she doesn’t seem to be all that different from the average Pharaoh, apart from her willingness to fight her own battles.  Guess the cat-claw battle staff helps.  Also, can we address how silly it is that the bio has to call her “Egyptian Catwoman” every time she’s mentioned?  It just sounds kind of silly, especially since those living in ancient Egypt would be very unlikely to throw “Egyptian” in front of their name.  It’d be like me referring to myself as “American Ethan H Wilson” all the time.  Wouldn’t “Pharaoh Catwoman” have been a better choice?  Oh well.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation (counting the tail, which turns at its base).  Most of the articulation isn’t of much use, since she’s rather preposed; it’s really only there to let you fine tune things so that she doesn’t fall over so much (whether it actually helps with that issue is debatable).  The sculpt is okay, I guess.  It’s not as good as Pirate Two-Face, but also not as bad as Pirate Batman.  It’s somewhere in between.  The pre-posing is at least a pretty decent pose, which is clearly designed to interact with the Egyptian Batman figure.  In terms of design, she seems to take a good deal of influence from her then current Jim Balent-designed outfit, mostly in terms of color and general layout of the various elements.  There are, of course, the Egyptian-styled elements, which are all pretty decently rendered, if perhaps a bit on the soft side.  The Wolverine claws seem a bit overkill, but there are worse things.  The paint work on Catwoman is acceptable, but far from perfect.  There’s a lot of fuzz around the edges, and the gold paint doesn’t seem to have held up particularly well.  Catwoman includes a headdress (meant to evoke her exposed hair in the comics), as well as the previously mentioned cat-claw battle staff.

BATMAN

“Many years ago, the son of a high-ranking Egyptian official disguised himself as Egyptian Batman and made it his life’s mission to out an end to evil-doers.  He didn’t have to look far for his main target: his own father’s sponsor, Egyptian Catwoman.  Battling the evil, feline pharaoh with only his powerful bat-shield staff and keen intellect as weapons, Egyptian Batman strived to make his homeland a prosperous, peaceful place once again.”

Okay, so here’s my question here: why a bat?  Like, it makes sense for Bruce Wayne, but random Egyptian dude?  Cats work into the whole Egyptian mythology thing, but bats?  I don’t know.  Anyway, the figure stands about 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  The articulation works a little better here, since the figure’s a little less preposed, which is a definite plus.  I think Egyptian Batman may well sport my favorite sculpt of the five Legends of Batman figures I’ve looked at so far.  Sure, he’s still got slightly exaggerated proportions and kind of insane muscles, but there’s a sort of balance to it.  I definitely get a Neal Adams sort of vibe from this figure.  The general design is also one of the stronger ones.  It maintains the basics of the classic Batman design, but also perseveres the whole Egyptian aesthetic, in a way that I feel works better than his pack-mate.  I particularly dig the morphing of his traditional bat-ears into more of a jackal sort of design.  It preserves the basic silhouette, but offers something new and different for the figure.  The paint work is pretty straightforward.  It’s mostly pretty clean, and the colors suit the character.  There’s still an issue with the gold paint one this figure, but it seems less present on this guy.  Like Catwoman, Batman includes a headdress, as well as his previously mentioned shield staff, which he has a little trouble holding properly.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like the prior two-pack, I don’t actually remember seeing this set in stores when it was released.  This one I do recall seeing a few times elsewhere over the years, but I just never got around to getting one.  Super Awesome Girlfriend picked this set up for me at the same time as the Pirate set.  I was actually more interested in the pirate set at first (since they go with my other figures), but after opening them both up, this set was actually my favorite of the two, largely due to the pretty awesome Egyptian Batman figure.  If you’re looking for a good jumping on point for this line, you could do a lot worse than this set.

Remembering Granddad

Posted by Ethan Wilson in General

My grandfather died this weekend.  He would have been 95 come this October.  He was a veteran of two wars, a teacher, and an engineer.  He was one of the smartest people I’ll ever know.  He was also one of the most stubborn, but that tends to come with the territory.  Over the last few years, he had been suffering from Alzheimer’s, which has been slowly chipping away at him.  It was difficult for the family, of course, but it was also difficult for him, as little by little, his ability to do things independently slipped from his grasp.

Granddad was a do-er, you see.  He liked to do everything himself.  This included building the house he and my Grandmother were living in, which after 50 years, is finally being completed by his children and grandchildren.  He moved at his own pace, which was often too slow for the rest of his family (a decade ago, his then thirty-year-old avocado green refrigerator stopped working.  He refused to allow a replacement to be bought and spent the better part of a year fixing it, much to my Grandmother’s chagrin), but I think he got a certain degree of amusement out of that.  He liked making people adhere to his plan, no matter how ridiculous or backwards it might seem.

As stubborn and belligerent as he could be, he was also incredibly thoughtful when he put his mind to it.  It was still always via his own idiosyncrasies, of course, but that was him.  For about 20 years, he religiously recorded thousands of TV programs onto VHS (only on the main network channels, of course, since he was far too stubborn to ever get around to getting cable).  At some point, I’m certain every family member got at least one tape from him, containing any number of shows he thought they’d be interested in.  In my case, it was almost always full of cartoons, because that was my speed, but I also have a copy of the ‘90s tv-movie Generation X because some network was showing it late one night, and he knew I liked the X-Men.  It was the little stuff.

I know most of my life stories tend to revolve around action figures in some way.  My Grandmother tended to be the one who followed all of my action figure stuff, but Granddad wasn’t completely out of the loop (although I do recall one time getting frustrated with him for mistaking Dragon Man’s wings for a Batman cape.  In my defense, I was about 7 at the time.)  One story in particular has always stuck out to me. 

When I was about four, I’d often spend the day at my grandparents’ house.  My dad pulled out his old Megos for me to play with.  One day, while playing with them, poor Superman’s internal band snapped, and he fell all to pieces.  I was quite distraught, but Granddad stepped in an assured me it would be alright.  He sat me down at the dining room table and, being the engineer that he was, he drew up several diagrams of just how we were going to fix that figure.  While it was my dad that ultimately fixed the figure (like I said, Granddad moved at his own pace), it’s something that’s always stuck out to me.  That was his defining moment in my life.  Not because it was about a toy, but because he took the time to not only make me feel better, but also to give me the knowledge of how to solve the problem on my own.  And that meant a lot.

Thank you for everything, Granddad.  I love you, and I will miss you very much.

#1294: Marvel’s Moon Knight

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

MARVEL’S MOON KNIGHT

MARVEL LEGENDS — 3.75 (HASBRO)

“A vision in an Egyptian temple leads Marc Spector to don a silver shroud and become the crime-fighting hero, Moon Knight.”

Moon Knight is one of the many Marvel heroes who began his career as an antagonist.  First created as a foe for Werewolf By Night, Moon Knight proved popular enough with readers to earn his own title, and in the process has become arguably better known than the character he was created to fight.  He was a fairly basic costumed vigilante to start with (he frequently found himself used as off-Batman); his only notable twist was that he had two secret identities, a wealthy playboy and a cab driver, neither of which was actually his original identity.  Which, for those keeping track, is a whopping four identities.  Eventually, it was decided that all these identities were actually due to Marc possessing a multiple personality disorder (which may or may not have been caused by the Egyptian God Khonshu’s influence on him).  You see, Marc isn’t pretending to be Moon Knight, or Steven Grant, or Jake Lockley; he *is* those people.  They’re all still very similar to Marc at their core, but each uniquely different in abilities, temperament, etc.  He’s definitely a fun character when handled right.  Above all, though?  He looks cool, and that makes for a good toy.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Moon Knight was released in the first 2017 series of the smaller-scale Marvel Legends line.  It’s sort of an oddball assortment of characters, but that’s honestly the best chance of getting made that Moon Knight ever gets.  The figure stands a little over 4 inches tall and he has 19 points of articulation.  Moon Knight is sporting his most recent costume; it’s got a lot in common with earlier Moon Knight designs, but with the usual streamlining we see on so much these days.  There are also crescents.  A lot of crescents.  Because the moon.  I’m generally a fan of this look, and I certainly like it more than some heroes’ modern designs.  He’s built on the most recent male base body, with a unique head, forearms, and shins, as well as an add-on piece for his cape and chest armor.  The base body is a good fit for Moon Knight.  It’s actually a first, I think; his base bodies have tended to be a little off on prior figures.  The new pieces are all pretty solid.  I wasn’t crazy about the head sculpt at first, but as I’ve had the chance to mess around with the figure and see it from different angles, it’s really grown on me.  It should be noted that it really looks best when viewed somewhat from above, rather than the upward facing angle most of the promo shots show it in.  The hood and cape both have a really awesome knitted texture going on, which helps to keep the figure from getting too monotonous, while still managing to not look overdone like some texturing at this scale can.  Moon Knight’s paint work is pretty straight forward black and white for the most part.  The application is all pretty clean; there’s some slop here and there, but nothing unacceptable for the scale.  I do like the presence of both flat and pearlescent white; it helps to differentiate between the armored bits and the cloth bits.  Moon Knight includes no accessories, which is a real letdown given the amount of money these things retail for.  At least give him his staff!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

March was a pretty hard month for me in terms of purchases, so I swore I wasn’t buying any figures for the entirety of April.  Remember how I said I swore I wasn’t buying any figures in April?  Well, it turns out my friends and family are all big fans of loophole abuse.  Tim and Jill came down for a visit in mid-April, and I spotted this guy while we were out and about.  I looked at him, but ultimately put him back.  Of course, Tim saw me empty handed and demanded I show him where the figure was and then proceeded to buy it for me.  Because they’re all a bunch of no good enablers, that’s why.  One of these day’s I’ll pay them all back.  Literally.  Like, with money.  Or other goods.

I wasn’t initially sure about this figure, given that he was being released in such close proximity to his larger scale figure in there main ML line, but the timing of the releases worked out so that he hit right as I was really wanting a Moon Knight figure.  It’s for the best really, because if they’d been released at the same time, I’d have skipped this guy, and that’d be a real shame, because he’s actually really cool.  Here’s hoping the large figure’s even better!

#1293: Tusken Raider

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

TUSKEN RAIDER

STAR WAR: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“The Sand People are easily frighted, but they’ll be back, and in greater numbers”

The Tusken Raiders.  What the heck are they?  Are they aliens?  Or just weird nomad people?  We never do see what they look like under all those wrappings.  Heck, they weren’t even called “Tusken Raiders” originally; they were just “Sand People.”  But I guess, like Walrus Man, Hammer Head, and Snuggle Tooth, that name was deemed too goofy to be real.   This is why we can’t have nice things.  Well, okay, that’s not true.  We have some nice things.  For instance, we have this Tusken Raider figure that I’m reviewing today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Tusken Raider was released in the second wave of the 1996 assortment of Power of the Force II figures from Kenner, which happens to be the same set that gave us the previously reviewed Greedo figure.  Like Greedo, the Raider wasn’t featured on cardbacks for some reason.  This was the second sand person/Tusken Raider in the line, following the original vintage release.  The figure stands a little over 3 3/4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation.  As I’ve noted before, the PotF2 figures were pretty high on the stylization scale, but as the line progressed, this lessened a bit.  The Raider is definitely a little puffier than most depictions of the design have been, and the head is rather on the small side.  There are also some slight bits of preposing, but it’s mostly limited to the arms, where it more or less makes sense.  The sculpting on the legs/feet isn’t particularly crazy, but for whatever reason, this figure tends to fall over a lot, which is really annoying.  Overall, I like this sculpt, but there are some bits of it that are rather uneven.  For instance, while there’s some great detail work on the head and robes, and there’s even a fully detailed torso under the main robe piece (which is removable), the hands are large and mostly devoid of extra detail, which ends up just looking really goofy.  Still, when compared to some of the Series 1 figures, he’s still a definite step-up.  The paint work on the Raider is mostly pretty passable.  Lots of tans and browns, and there’s even a bit of subtle work at the base of the sleeves and the skirt of the robe.  Not the most thrilling color scheme of all time, but accurate to what’s seen on-screen.  The Raider’s one accessory is his Gaderffi stick.  There were two variations of the figure’s left hand sculpt.  Mine is the earlier, closed grip hand, which prevents him from holding the stick anywhere but the very top, which is a little goofy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like Greedo, I didn’t have this one growing up. I had my dad’s vintage Sand Person, which held me over.  I ended up grabbing this guy from this year’s Farpoint charity auction.  He’s not a bad figure at all.  Not super thrilling, but fun enough to keep me interested.

The Blaster In Question #0005: Magnus

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

MAGNUS

N-STRIKE ELITE (MEGA)

That ain’t no dart, this is a dart.  Ah, yes, the Mega series, Nerf’s go at the “bigger is better” trope.  The line started back in 2013 with the equally giant Centurion.  After that, the next obvious step was something a little on the smaller side, while still using the bigger Mega darts.  Give it a year, and thats when we were given today’s blaster, the Magnus.

THE BLASTER ITSELF

The Magnus was released in 2014 as the second blaster in the Mega series.  At the time of its release, it was entirely original.  Since then, the internal magazine and general operation have been reused in a couple of the licensed Star Wars blasters albeit chambered for the standard sized Elite darts.  This style of magazine works much in the same way as the Speedload 6 or Quick 16 from the Dart Tag line in that it is not removable and loads from the top, but does this while being in line with the center go the blaster and without all those extra dart pushing parts.  Given the size of the darts relative to the blaster, the Magnus only holds 3 rounds, which some might argue is too few to be worth the complexity of the design but I don’t have a problem with it.  You may have noticed that I have 2 of this particular blaster and that is for a couple reasons, but more one than the other.  Primarily, my first Magnus, the red one, is busted.  I’m not sure exactly the reason but 75% of shots fall limply out of the barrel rather than flying at my siblings like I intend.  This gave me reason enough to seek out a replacement, and what better than the ToysRUs exclusive “Sonic Ice” version.  The color doesn’t affect the performance assuming you’re comparing fully functional blasters.  One thing I found surprising about the Magnus was the grip.  It has a nice texture to it that does indeed add some traction, but it’s also fairly slim, especially for a Mega blaster.  It doesn’t ruin the blaster or anything, it just struck me as an odd balance of proportions.  The Magnus features some very rudimentary, although still appreciated, sights on the top of the blaster and an attachment rail on the underside.  In line with the rest of the Mega series, the Magnus packs a decent punch, hitting noticeably harder than many Elite blasters and with larger, heavier darts to boot.  As such, the Magnus is probably better suited for outdoor play.  Shooting from farther away also lets potential targets hear the darts coming at them as Mega darts whistle when fired.  The Magnus comes packaged with 3 Mega darts.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My initial Magnus came about from a combination of odd circumstances all overlapping.  The first and foremost being that there was a current Nerf blaster that I did not yet own.  The second is my aunt knowing that I wanted it, and third, knowing exactly which blaster it was.  Put all that together and you get the only Nerf blaster I’ve received for Christmas in the last decade.  It was really a shame to find out that mine wasn’t working properly, but my recent birthday was enough to convince me to get a replacement.  And who knows, maybe with a little more tinkering, I can get the original up and running.

#1292: Titus

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

MARVEL’S TITUS

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

And now for the thrilling conclusion to the “characters Ethan knows next to nothing about” trilogy!

So, hey, yeah, it’s Titus.  He’s the…uhhh…well, he’s that guy that….ummm….he’s owned by Marvel?  Okay, in actuality, he’s a former member of the Nova Corps, who  served alongside Sam Alexander’s father.  He’s served as an antagonist in Sam’s Nova series.  He’s not a super prominent character, but he’s got a tie to one of the figures in this particular series, and he’s made a few appearances in animation.  They could certainly go more obscure.  I mean, not *much* obscure, but it’s possible.  Onto the figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Titus is the Build-A-Figure for the first GotG-themed series of Marvel Legends for 2017, which has, unsurprisingly, been dubbed the Titus Series.  Titus is based on his post-Nova-Corps look, which is kind of his most prominent look, so that makes sense.  The figure stands about 8 inches tall and he has 28 points of articulation.  He’s built on the body introduced with the Space Venom figure.  It’s been slightly altered to remove a number of the character-specific elements (presumably to make it easier to use on more figures in the future).  It’s also got a number of new pieces, for the head, right arm, and left hand.  The new pieces integrate well-enough with the old…well, I mean, as much as a tiger head and a big gun/cannon can be integrated with a human-proportioned body.  The level of detail in the pieces is really nice; the head is a ton of great texture work, and a nice, intense expression.  I wish the jaw were articulated, but that’s about the only gripe.  The gun arm is super goofy, and really boxy, but it’s also a pretty much perfect recreation of the comics design, and also a lot of fun.  In terms of paint, Titus is fairly basic, but really sharp looking.  The best work is definitely on the head, which actually sports some pretty solid accent work to help bring out the smaller details.  In regards to the rest of the body, there’s some slight slop, but it’s mostly pretty good.   I really like the shade of gold they’ve used here; it’s essentially the same one used on Sam Nova, which I liked there as well.  Titus has no accessories of his own.  Several of the other recent BAFs have had extra stuff, which has been cool, but it’s not like it’s expected, since he, himself, is really just an accessory.  Plus, what extras would you even give him?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, yeah, Titus.  Like I said, I’m not really familiar with him, so completing the figure was far from the top of my list.  I was fully intending to get rid of the pieces.  But then I got Darkhawk and Angela, and all of the sudden he was complete.  Didn’t mean to do that.  In my defense, I personally only bought one single figure that went towards to completing him.  Even then I wasn’t totally sure I’d keep him.  However, after assembling him, I gotta say, he’s a surprisingly fun figure.  For a character I’ve got no attachment to, I’m really happy with this figure.  This is how you do a figure of a character most people don’t know.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0014: Cyclops

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

Hi-dy-ho-there readers!  It’s Friday again, and you know what that means: another Flashback Friday Figure Addendum!  We’re going to continue trending with the Marvel thing today, and take a look back at another one of my Toy Biz X-Men reviews.  Let’s have a second look at the very first Toy Biz Cyclops(es), shall we?

Toy Biz may have become one of the most prominent toy makers in the industry in the late 90s, but less than a decade before that, they were just a small upstart company that was recovering from having totally tanked the DC Comics license. In a move baffling to pretty much everyone at the time, Marvel Comics decided to give them a second chance at the world of comics. They kicked off things with a line of figures based on Marvel’s premiere super-team at the time, the X-Men! And, why not take a look at their very first take on the very first X-Man, Cyclops.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyclops was released as part of the first series of Toy Biz’s X-Men line. He was available in two different color schemes. He was originally released in his second X-Factor costume (which he had JUST replaced in the comics), and when the first series was re-released he was also available in his classic Dave Cockrum costume. I, of course, have both. Both figures stand right at 5 inches tall and feature 8 points of articulation. The heads don’t move, due to the inclusion of a light-up feature for the visor. Unfortunately, there was no way to remove and replace the batteries to this feature, so both of my figures lost this feature years ago. Also, this feature results in a rather noticeable lever on the back of both figures. But what about the actual sculpt? Well, there’s no denying that this figure shows its age. The proportions are somewhat cartoony, and the details are rather primitive and basic. He does have sculpted outlines for the white parts of his costume which is pretty neat (for the X-Factor version, at least). I don’t know if anybody else remembers the Dial M for Monkey segments from Dexter’s Laboratory, but I can’t help but see Monkey when I look at Cyclops’ head sculpt, and I feel like that wasn’t Toy Biz’s intention. It’s not a terrible sculpt; this guy just doesn’t have quite the presence of the comics version of the esteemed Mr. Summers. The paint is where these two diverge. The original X-Factor version is the one with the big white X on his chest, and it’s pretty decently painted, with most of the details staying where they’re supposed to. There’s some slop on the edges of the boots and gloves, but that’s really it. The second, Cockrum-based version adds a few more colors and gets rid of the white. He’s got the same issue with the boots and gloves, but is otherwise pretty well handled. However, he’s stuck by one issue that doesn’t hit the first Cyclops: his paint clearly doesn’t line up with the figures sculpted outlines. It’s not the most noticeable thing ever, and Toy Biz didn’t originally intend for this sculpt to be used for both costumes, so it’s pretty easy to overlook. Both Cyclops included a weird blaster thing that clipped over the figures’ hands. It was strange and completely made up for the toys.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The X-Factor Cyclops is actually my very first Cyclops action figure, purchased for me by my Dad one of our many runs to the local KB Toys, just as I was getting into this whole collecting thing. I had the choice of either paint scheme, but I went with this one, I think due to it being closer to his look from the cartoon. The second version was a later addition to my collection, after the figures had left most retail stores. I picked him up from my local comicbook store, Cosmic Comix, who just happened to have one. Neither of these figures has aged very well, but I do still have a bit of a nostalgic love for both of them.

I was intending to open this discussion with “hey, this review’s pretty recent,” but it was posted back in October of 2015.  That’s not forever ago, but it *has* been more than a year and a half.  Time flies, huh?  This review hit right around the time that I started putting actual effort into making sure my older items were finding their way onto the review schedule, following a summer that was rather jam-packed with newly-acquired figures.  He was also almost the pick for my final Year 2 review, but I opted for Nightwing instead, since I’d reviewed the Toy Biz Havok for my final Year 1 review.

I think my review for this figure was pretty on point.  It’s definitely a goofy figure, no denying that.  I can’t say there’s really anything else I feel I should have touched on.  During The Find, I dug out that strange blaster thing that both figures included.  It’s definitely odd.  I had no clue what this was supposed to be, but now my figures have their’s again, so, you know, there it is.

And thus end the Flashback Friday Figure Addendums.  Well, for the foreseeable future, anyway.  Thanks for reading!

#1291: Marvel’s Angela

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

MARVEL’S ANGELA

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“A master of hand-to-hand combat, Angela is known throughout the galaxy for her battle prowess.”

On the next installment of figures of characters Ethan knows next to nothing about…

Back in the early ‘90s, a group of poplar comic book artists, headed by Todd McFarlane, left Marvel Comics over issues of creative control and maintaining the rights to the characters they created.  They founded Image Comics.  Each artist was given their own free reign to do as they liked with the characters they created, and would each maintain the rights to their own creations.  What does this all have to do with Angela?  Well, Angela was born out of Todd McFarlane’s series Spawn.  Todd started delegating the creation of the actual comic pretty quickly, passing the reigns to a number of writers.  Among them was one Neil Gaiman, who wrote Spawn #9, which introduced the character of Angela, a co-creation of Gaiman and McFarlane (who was still handling the art duties).  Gaiman was initially told he would retain creator rights for Angela (as well as the other two characters created for the issue), but McFarlane later tried to back out, claiming Angela was the result of a “work for hire” contract (a tactic virtually identical to that used by Marvel to deny McFarlane rights to characters he’d created. Way to go, Todd).  Gaiman took the case to court, and was eventually granted full ownership of Angela, whom he promptly sold to Marvel.  Marvel integrated her into the main universe as a side-effect of Age of Ultron’s mucking with the timeline.  Now she’s apparently the sister of Thor and has also joined up with the Guardians of the Galaxy.  Yay?  Anyway, she got a Marvel Legend, so here it is.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Angela is figure 4 in the Titus Series of Marvel Legends and is the final single figure in the set to be reviewed on the site.  She’s another figure with the “Marvel’s” bit in front of her name, but this is one time I think it’s totally justified.  They paid good money for her, might as well let people know.  She’s based on her Joe Quesada-designed look that she got when she was introduced at Marvel, which seems like a pretty sensible choice, especially since it’s the look she had with the Guardians, and she’s in a Guardians-themed series.  The figure stands 6 3/4 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Angela is built on an all-new body.  I would imagine we’ll be seeing some of it again pretty soon, as it looks like the upcoming Lady Sif figure is built on the same base.  Beyond that, it’s not really going to be getting much use as a base body, since most of it’s got pretty character specific elements.  It’s a decent enough body.  The build isn’t too much on the impossible side, at least as far as comic book characters go.  She does seem rather leggy, but that’s not entirely off when you’re dealing with the Asgardians.  The character-specific elements are decent enough, though some of the armor (especially the shoulder pads and the one weird elbow thing) is rather restrictive of the articulation.  The head’s actually pretty nice; the face is fairly attractive and fits well with the other Asgardians in terms of basic features, while the hair has a nice, lively flow to it, which makes it look like she’s doing more than just standing there (but it also doesn’t go too overboard, a la the Ultimate Spider-Woman figure).  There are add-ons for the belt/loincloth and the…uhhh, scarf?  Straps?  Neck belt?  Leash?  I don’t know what that thing around her neck is, but it’s a separate piece.  It also kind of sits weird.  It’s not really the fault of the figure, but I’m not really a fan of the loincloth’s design.  Why is it only at the back?  Is it supposed to be some sort of butt cape?  I don’t know.  I really feel it would look much better if it were also present at the front.  As it is, she looks sort of half dressed.  I mean, I know she’s already somewhat on the scantily clad side of the spectrum, but that one bit just looks…unfinished.  It’s accurate to the comic and everything, so Hasbro’s not to blame, but it bugs me.  The piece also has some difficulty sitting properly, which seems to be a trend amongst her add-ons.  Angela’s paintwork is generally pretty solid, so that’s good.  The colors are all pretty vibrant, and all of the application is nice and clean.  There’s no real accent work to speak of, but it actually doesn’t seem that odd here.  Most of her artwork has her looking pretty clean, so this is consistent with that.  Angela is packed with a sword and a pair of axes.  The sword on mine is malformed into that weird wavy shape, but I actually kinda like it.  The axes are kind of goofy, but accurate to the comics, so that’s what that is.  She also includes the right leg of the Build-A-Figure Titus.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, I didn’t plan on getting Angela.  I don’t really have any attachment to Angela, like, at all.  Even less than Darkhawk, who I also wasn’t gonna get.  But I did get him.  Remember in Wednesday’s review, where I mentioned that whole barter system, doing IT work for action figures thing?  Well, while Super Awesome Girlfriend’s mom was in town a few weeks ago, we were all at a Books-A-Million, and SAGF’s mom was buying her some books.  Since I’d done quite a bit of IT work for her, she asked if I wanted another action figure.  This was one of two Marvel Legends in the store that I didn’t already own, and Titus was exactly one piece away from completion.  So, home with me she came.  She’s not a bad figure at all.  Were I a fan of the character, I’d probably be really happy with her.  As it is?  I’m still not totally sold on the design, and there are a handful of minor issues with the figure.  But, she’s overall pretty fun.  So, now I own *two* Angela figures.  Yippee.

#1290: Princess Leia Organa

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

PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

“Princess Leia Organa was one of the Rebel Alliance’s greatest leaders, fearless on the battlefield and dedicated to ending the tyranny of the Empire.”

May the 4th be with you!  Yes, it’s May 4th again, known to geeks all over the world as Star Wars Day.  This year’s Star Wars Day is extra special, since this year marks to 40th anniversary of the release of the original movie.  I had initially planned to review another vintage figure today, but as luck would have it, I got a newer item that I wanted to slot into the schedule as quickly as possible.  So, without further ado, here’s Princess Leia Organa!

THE FIGURE IN QUESTION

Princess Leia was released as part of the first series of the special 40th Anniversary sub-set of Hasbro’s Star Wars: The Black Series.  All of the figures in the first series are re-releases of prior Black Series figures, but this time on special commemorative cards patterned after the vintage Kenner hardbacks of old.  The packaging is super nifty, and I was almost a little sad to have to open it up to take her out.  Leia is a re-release of the #30 Black Series figure released last year.  Unlike the others in this set, she’s actually got a slight tweak from her predecessor.  The initial head for the #30 figure was deemed unsatisfactory by Hasbro.  However, they were too late in production to completely replace it, so the initial shipments went out with the initial sculpt.  There was talk of a running change to replace the head, but I’m not actually sure if they ever made it out.  This release is making use of the new head from the start.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and has 29 points of articulation.  Like Luke and Obi-Wan before her, Leia makes use of a mix of sculpted and cloth parts.  The head, boots, and underlying body are all sculpted, and the dress and hood are a tailored piece, held in place by a sculpted belt piece.  In terms of the sculpted parts, the general work is pretty solid.  The head is, as noted, the improved piece.  It’s really quite a nice piece of work; easily one of the better Carrie Fisher likeness out there.  It’s leaps and bounds beyond the prior piece, and I personally think its a closer likeness than the Boushh disguise Leia, which was my personal favorite prior to this.  The underlying body sculpt is decent enough; it’s not really meant to be seen, so the proportions are more on the marionette side of things.  I do wish some of the joints offered a little more range, but other than that, it seems fine.  The boots are a pretty decent sculpt, and make for a pretty decent replica of the actual costume pieces.  They aren’t going to to be seen much, but the attention to detail is appreciated.  The cloth pieces on the Black Series figures have never been one of Hasbro’s strong suits.  I was particularly letdown by how the shirt turned out on the ANH Luke figure.  So, I was definitely apprehensive of how the dress would turn out here.  While I think I still would have preferred a sculpted dress, I’m happy to say the cloth dress is better than I was expecting.  It seems to be less ill-fitting than prior pieces, and sits on the figure rather nicely.  It’s not without issue, mind you.  The seams on the sleeves are rather annoying, and the hood is just sort of a mess.  It doesn’t really want to say up or down; I think sewing it in place would have been a better idea.  The belt piece holds the whole thing together nicely, and adds just the right folds.  It also doesn’t seem to ride up as much as Luke’s did, which is a serious plus!  I’ve been a little letdown by some of the Black Series paint as of late, but Leia actually turned out really well.  Her head gets the majority of the work.  It’s all pretty clean, and I was pleasantly surprised by the slight accent work on her face, which adds some extra color and brings some much needed life to the figure.  Here’s hoping that this style of paintwork continues!  Leia is packed with two blasters: the smaller one she carries during her opening scene and the larger Stormtrooper blaster she’s hauling around during the escape from the Deathstar.  I really appreciate the variety.  Of course the fact that she got both guns only further hammers home how annoying it was that Luke didn’t get any of his Stormtrooper gear, since both Han and Leia did.  Oh well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I never did see the first release of this figure at retail (In fact, the only figure I did see was the Obi-Wan figure that I bought).  So, I was pretty happy to hear about the re-release, since I didn’t want my A New Hope set stuck without a major player.  I ended up finding this figure at the nearby comic book store, Power Comics, while Super Awesome Girlfriend was picking up last week’s comics haul.  I was going to wait to grab her, but Super Awesome Girlfriend insisted on buying her for me, because that’s what she does.  For once, I’m glad I had to wait for a figure, because this release is definitely superior to the prior figure.  The end result is a figure I’m really happy with.  She was definitely a pleasant surprise.  Here’s to more awesome Leia figures in the future!

#1289: Doctor Who Series 5 Set

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

RAGGEDY DOCTOR, PRISONER ZERO, & RORY WILLIAMS

DOCTOR WHO (CHARACTER OPTIONS)

Okay, let’s take a small break from all the Marvel stuff for a little bit (but fear not, dear readers, it’ll be back soon enough), and flip over to a slightly less frequent subject of review here, Doctor Who!  I know some people might not agree with me, but my favorite era of the show is the first season of Smith’s run on the show.  The figures I’m looking at today hail from that particular period of the show.  Let’s see how they look!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These three make up the Series Five three-pack from Character Options’ Doctor Who line, which was released around the time of the show’s anniversary.  All three figures are re-released from earlier in the line, with Rory and Prisoner Zero being single releases and Raggedy Doctor being in a two pack with a basic Eleven.

RAGGEDY DOCTOR

This marks the fourth figure of the Eleventh Doctor I’ve looked at on this site, which pulls him into the lead, just past Ten, who’s sitting pretty at three figures.  This particular figure is based on Eleven’s appearance in his debut episode “The Eleventh Hour,” prior to his selecting a new outfit for himself.  As such, he’s still sporting the tattered remains of Ten’s clothes from “The End Of Time.”  The figure stands about 5 1/4 inches tall and has 16 points of articulation.  This version of Eleven was a mix of old and new parts.  The head is, of course, just the same standard head used on the basic Eleven from the Eleven Doctors set (among others).  It’s not a perfect Smith likeness, but it’s got a passing resemblance.  The legs are just the basic Ten legs, which makes sense, since it’s the same outfit and all.  The upper body is new; it does a pretty good job of capturing the Doctor’s raggedness, which is kind of the main point of the figure.  That being said, for some odd reason, the torso section of the shirt is an overlay, on top of a more basic torso piece.  It looks okay overall, but there are some pretty obvious joint lines, especially at the neck.  On the plus side, at least the details are still pretty sharp.  In terms of paint, Eleven is pretty much on par with most of my other Doctor Who stuff.  The work is generally pretty clean, and the colors are sharp, but there’s not a whole lot in the way of accenting.  Still, it’s pretty consistent with the other stuff from the line, which is good.  Even though his hand is clearly sculpted to hold a sonic screwdriver, this figure includes no extras.  To be fair, his screwdriver was broken for most of the episode, so he shouldn’t technically have it, and at least this way he *can* have one if you want him to.  Still, something extra would have been nice.

PRISON ZERO

A perfect pairing with the Raggedy Doctor, seeing as it’s the primary antagonist for “The Eleventh Hour” and all. To be honest, it’s less a figure and more a glorified accessory.  It’s about 6 inches tall and moves at three places along the “body.”  The movement is mostly there to help you get the best possible balance for the figure, but I suppose you could get some slightly more inventive poses if you so choose.  Prisoner Zero sports a unique sculpt, which does a halfway decent job of capturing the creature’s CGI-rendered natural form from the episode.  In fact, I’d say it even looks a little bit more frightening than the creature seen in the episode.  I will say, not only are the joints on this figure rather obviously placed, they’re also not super sturdy; my figure already snapped off of its base at the joint, and I hadn’t even had it out of the box for more than a few minutes.  In terms of paint, Prisoner Zero is somewhat sparse; it’s mostly molded in clear plastic, with its joints molded in red so as to give it a nifty other-worldly quality.  There’s still paint on the teeth and eyes, which is all pretty good.  Prisoner Zero includes no accessories, but, like I said above, it’s more of an accessory itself than anything.

RORY WILLIAMS

Rory’s the one figure in this set I already have (reviewed here).  The other two figures are clearly from “The Eleventh Hour.”  While Rory was introduced in that episode, he doesn’t wear this particular get-up, which makes him seem a little out of place.  It seems a little odd to me that they chose to put him in this set, rather than giving the basic Amy a re-release, especially since she carries such a hefty value on the secondary market.  I mean, I own two Amys arleady, so I don’t have a real dog in this fight, but it just seems slightly odd.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set was given to me by Super Awesome Girlfriend’s mother, in exchange for doing some IT work for her.  Nothing like a good old fashioned barter system, right?  This isn’t really a set I’d have picked for myself, if I’m honest.  The Doctor included is non-essential, Prisoner Zero isn’t really an action figure, and I’ve already got a Rory figure.  With that being said, the Raggedy Doctor is a pretty fun Eleven variant, and Prisoner Zero is an entertaining backdrop for my Who collection.  Not a super thrilling set, but a decent one.