#3747: Spider-Gwen

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

SPIDER-GWEN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Hey, it’s another Marvel Legends review. Alright, cool. Umm, well, if you were expecting something quippy, I’m not your guy on this one. I go more meta, but not in a social media way. So there. Today’s topic is Spider-Verse again, specifically Gwen. Spider-Gwen, Spider-Gwen, does whatever a spider cwen! Yeah, that’s the ticket right there. Onto the review!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Gwen is the fourth figure in the second Across The Spider-Verse tie-in series of Marvel Legends. Thus far, Gwen’s been represented in every Spider-Verse tie-in assortment, and she’s definitely the re-hashiest of the bunch this time around. Not that it’s ultimately a bad thing. Like the last time, the figure stands just under 6 inches tall and has 29 points of articulation. Generally, this is the same mold as before, but it’s not *identical*, and it’s actually more different than I’d expected. The one properly new piece is the wrist band goober thing, which most of them get this time around. It just slides on over the wrist, so you can also give it to the standard Gwen, if you’re so inclined. She also has changes to both of the included heads, granting them slightly different expressions. The mask has wider eyes, and the unmasked head has a more serious expression. I liked the prior heads just fine, but I honestly feel like these two are both just a bit stronger.  The color work on Gwen marks another slight change-up.  Like Spider-Punk, Gwen gets a re-deco based on her shifting color scheme from her home universe.  This one’s more purplish.  It’s not a drastic change, but it’s a neat one.  Gwen gets the same extra hands as her regular release, as well as a small figurine of LYLA, Miguel O’Hara’s holographic companion.  It’s not really so much an accessory for Gwen herself, mind you, instead just being an extra piece for 2099, but it’s still nifty.  It’s nicely sculpted, and a good match for the animation model.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was happy with my Into Gwen figure, and wasn’t initially sure about the standard version.  But, I got that one, and I really liked her, and I felt like that was probably good enough.  I wasn’t really expecting another one, and this one initially seemed like one I could skip.  Then, of course, I saw she came with LYLA, and I didn’t want to miss out on a new character.  Honestly, I like the end result more than I’d expected to.  The colors are run, and I prefer the slightly changed new heads.  All-in-all, she’s a slightly oddball choice, but a fun figure.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3746: Cobra B.A.T.

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COBRA B.A.T. — COMIC VERSION

G.I. JOE: REACTION+

Last week, I took a look at the first of Super 7’s latest venture with the G.I. Joe license, ReAction+, a new line of vintage-style O-Ring construction figures. I kicked things off with Snake Eyes, who’s a good mark for the Joes. For my second entry, I’m switching to the opposing team with the B.A.T., a robot dude that’s there for robot dude stuff. So, let’s look at that robot dude and said robot dude stuff.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Cobra B.A.T. is, much like Snake Eyes, part of the four figure line-up that launched Super 7’s G.I. Joe: ReAction+. All of the figures thus far are comics based, which actually means a little bit more for the B.A.T. The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and has 16 points of articulation. He gets the same basic articulation set-up as others of this style, plus additional swivels at the forearms. The hips are notably less restricted here than on Snake Eyes, which is a definite plus.  The B.A.T.’s sculpt is a respectable one, and honestly a bit better than the work we saw on Snake Eyes.  It’s certainly more involved, with the more detailed outfit, and all of the intricacies of the robotic arms.  His torso plate is actually sculpted, rather than a lenticular piece like the original, and the comic styled, generally boxier head is really sharply sculpted, and also rather unique.  I also quite dig that both arms get the swappable forearms, as opposed to just the right on the vintage.  It’s an extra layer of versatility that kicks him up a notch.  His colors again lean into the comic styling, going for blue in place of the usual black sections.  It’s a nice shade, and makes him once more a little different from prior B.A.T.s.  Actual paint application is all quite clean and crisp, with minimal bleed over, and no slop to speak of.  The B.A.T. is packed with the usual three arm attachments (gripper, laser, and torch), a backpack to store them in, and a rifle.  That’s one more accessory than his vintage counterpart got, which gives him a leg up on Snake Eyes, who was down by one.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I knew going into this line that I wanted Snake Eyes, but wasn’t sold beyond that.  This guy looked pretty cool, but it wasn’t until I saw him in person that I realized how cool.  He really did wow me in-hand, and that was enough to give him a try.  I’m glad I did, because he’s honestly a better figure than the Snake Eyes was, and feels like an all-around more solid product from Super 7.  Still not certain about the direction of this line, but if they can do more figures like this, maybe it might have some legs.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3745: Spider-Punk

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SPIDER-PUNK

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

Okay, let’s keep this semi-regular Marvel Legends reviews thing going a bit longer, shall we?  Last week, I jumped into the newest Spider-Verse related stuff, and I’m gonna keep that running here.  Since it’s been a bit of time between assortments and a lot of the other Spider-Verse product has largely disappeared, the latest set of figures has a lot of re-hash, in order to get the main characters back out there.  Spider-Punk wound up as the breakaway hit of Across the Spider-Verse, which has kept his initial Legends figure tricky to get, which I guess adds to the compelling reasons to do another.  Does it make it worth it?  Let’s find out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Punk is part of the second assortment of Across the Spider-Verse tie-in figures from Marvel Legends.  This marks our third Spider-Punk in Legends, and the second one that’s specifically movie-based.  The figure stands about 7 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  For the most part, the mold’s the same Arlen Pelletier sculpt as the first figure.  It was a very good sculpt the first time around, and it remains a very good sculpt still.  This time around, he gets a brand-new unmasked head.  It was a major omission from the prior figure, especially given how much of the movie he spends unmasked.  It fits well on the body and it’s also a solid recreation of how he looks in the film, so I definitely count it as a strong addition the the sculpt.  He also gets the little trans-dimensional goober wrist band, which was missing from all of the first assortment figures.  In the film, Spider-Punk change’s colors from shot to shot, making him look like an ever-changing assortment of punk-rock fliers and photos.  The first figure had his “standard” colors, while this one goes for an alt look, which is a monochromatic purple.  It’s a rather unique look with some decent pop to it.  The paint’s not bad; technically, there’s less applications than the standard, but what’s there remains pretty strong.   Spider-Punk gets the same alternate hand and guitar as the last release, but now in colors to match the new figure.  He also gets the same unmasked head that’s already on the body, but in standard colors, meant for use with the regular figure.  There is, however, no *masked* head for this figure, so he’s in a similar boat to the original release.  The mold’s already there, so it’s a pretty egregious omission.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The first movie Spider-Punk figure was hands down my favorite figure in the initial assortment, and he was subsequently my favorite part of the movie when I got to see it.  I definitely missed the unmasked head on the first one, so a revisit certainly isn’t unwelcome.  I like the additional head for the original, but I’ll admit the missing masked head’s a real bummer.  Still, the figure remains a fun one, and I won’t turn down another Spider-Punk.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3744: Commcast

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COMMCAST

X-FORCE (TOY BIZ)

“A technological wizard, Commcast lets his keyboard do his fighting for him! Not only can he access virtually any information in the world within seconds, but this cyberpunk hacker has an arsenal of high-tech weaponry available via his computer! Disdaining physical combat, Commcast uses knowledge as his weapon of trade, usually allowing others to fight his battles for him, while overseeing the action from a safe distance. Still when the action gets too close for comfort, Commcast and his hover disc have taken down many an overconfident foe!”

It’s December, a month for looking back fondly with nostalgia, and what better thing for me to be nostalgic about that Toy Biz Marvel?  Wait, Comcast.  Well, I’m certainly not nostalgic about Comcast, and I’m happy I left them behind.  Oh, wait, it’s ComMcast, with two “m”s.  That’s not the communication company, it’s the X-Force character!  Admittedly, they’re about equally effective, I suppose, since Commcast never really did amount to much as a character.  He’s just one of the many, many, many ’90s X-characters introduced because they were so popular, who then fell into the background.  But, it was the ’90s, so he got an action figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Commcast was released in Series 4 of the X-Force spin-off to Toy Biz’s X-Men line.  He hit in 1994, which is a surprisingly quick turnaround from the character’s original 1993 appearance.  You’d think a character like this would be the most obscure part of the assortment, but Slayback, Killspree, and X-Treme all give him some serious competition for that spot.  The figure stands about 5 1/4 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  His articulation scheme is pretty much the standard for the line, albeit somewhat restricted by the nature if his design.  His sculpt is also pretty standard.  It’s not a bad recreation of his comics design, which is itself surprisingly tame for ’90s standards.  The posing of the arms is a little awkward, and he’s a touch pigeon-toed.  Also, his holster is kind of ridiculously large.  That said, he’s a pretty cleanly defined figure.  Commcast’s paint work is a touch rough.  There’s some notable slop around the boots and gauntlets, and the coverage on the silver sections is a bit inconsistent.  The face isn’t bad, I guess, though.  Commcast is packed with a gun and a “Mutant Hunting Hovercraft.”  Honestly, the hovercraft is the coolest bit with its collapsable set-up.  It even got re-used for the re-release of Cyclops II.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Honestly, the biggest thing that sticks in my memory about this figure was that he was the origin of the hovercraft part that came with my Cyclops figure.  I don’t really know anything at all about the character, and nothing about him every spoke to me in particular.  At this point, I’m trying to get a complete run of the Toy Biz Marvel stuff, which leads to me buying a lot of figures I wouldn’t necessarily buy on their own.  Commcast fits squarely into that set-up.  I wound up snagging a sealed one during my summer vacation this year.  He’s not a star piece, or anything, but I can genuinely say he’s better than I’d expected.

#3743: Robocop

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ROBOCOP

ROBOCOP (TOY ISLAND)

In prep for this review, I was genuinely uncertain if I’d talked about Robocop on the site, and in fact, yes, I have.  I looked at the two NECA figures I had, which is well enough.  Of course, that’s all on the more recent side (relatively speaking, at least), but let’s go back to the beginning.  Or, you know, at least closer to it, with a little company called Toy Island, who devoted quite a bit of their business to making toys of things that probably shouldn’t have had toys in the ’90s.  There was a whole selection of Robocop stuff from them, following up on what Kenner had done in the prior decade.  And today, I’m looking at one of their smallest offerings.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Robocop was released by Toy Island in 1995, as a tie-in to the live-action show, rather than the movie.  Of course, for Robocop himself, it’s only a minor distinction.  He was part of the smaller scale stuff, which was a lot of one-and-done releases of main characters, usually designed to fill out the pegs at KB.  The figure is just under 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 8 points of articulation.  He’s *sort of* 1/18 scale, but not really, because he’s ultimately rather small, which was the case with a lot of the Toy Island stuff.  He’s very limited in his posing, especially because he lacks a neck joint.  Of course, to be fair, Robocop was also rather stiff in his movements by design, so it sort of tracks in that respect.  The sculpt is itself pretty rudimentary.  His head seems to be a little thin, and also too big, which feels like its saying two different things, but it’s not.  That said, the armor and body details are all actually pretty sharp.  Sure, they don’t all completely line-up with the design for the character, but it’s also not terribly far off.  His paint work is pretty basic.  The armoring seems a little dark for the character, but beyond that, it’s generally fine.  Robocop’s one accessory was an M-16, which is just emphatically not right for the character at all, but it’s presumably something Toy Island already had a mold for, so there it was.  Regardless, it’s a piece that’s missing from mine.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This guy was one of my Nana’s signature “bought one for all the grandkids” purchases, paired off with the Toy Island T-800, all of them purchased on sale at KB Toys.  I had no clue about either character at the time, and I thought they were actually linked, and had to sort of come up with my own story for them.  It was a good while before I knew anything about Robocop in actuality.  This figure’s pretty hokey, but at the same time, he’s really not bad, especially given what he was meant to be.

#3742: Pavitr Prabhakar

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PAVITR PRABHAKAR

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

The cast of Spider-Verse, both as a comics event and as a set of movies, is populated by a mix of spider-variants both new and pre-existing.  While a number of the ones at the center of things were created for the story (such as Spider-Gwen and Spider-Punk), there are a very great many that existed well before the event.  Pavitr Prabhakar, aka Spider-Man India, was created for a series that retold the Spider-Man story in an Indian setting for an Indian market in 2004.  The story was brought back to the States in ’05, and he was subsequently worked into the main “Spider-Verse” event.  He’s one of the notable new Spiders in Across the Spider-Verse, albeit in more of a supporting role.  He was left out of Hasbro’s first round of toy coverage, but the second round swoops in with the fix!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Pavitr Prabhakar is another figure from the second Across the Spider-Verse tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends, which just started hitting retail in the last few weeks.  This is Pavitr’s first figure treatment, and he’s also the only proper “new” character in the assortment (though I guess Miles G and Peter A are *kinda* new characters for the line).  The figure stands 5 3/4 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  He’s notably shorter than the others, but that’s appropriate, and adds some nice height diversity to the set-up.  His articulation  scheme is pretty decent overall, but I did find it a little restricting at the shoulders and neck, given what we’re used to for Spider-Men.  The figure gets a totally new sculpt, based on his updated design from the film.  In the comics, much like with Spider-Punk, Pavitr’s costume is a far closer adaptation of the traditional Peter Parker design.  They did a pretty radical re-work for the film, resulting in a design that’s far more unique, but also still feels at its core like it gets the spirit of a Spidey design.  It translates very well to figure form; it’s sharp, clean, and it has a good flow to it.  Pavitr’s color work is very bright and clean, and quite eye-catching.  What paint work he has is sharply applied, especially the “tattoo” designs.  About the only thing I’m not crazy about is the feet, which are supposed to have his toes exposed.  They’re sculpted that way, and sort of painted that way, but the coverage is inconsistent, and it doesn’t really look natural.  Pavitr is packed with an alternate unmasked head (which I’m very happy is a standard thing here), two pairs of hands, and his bangle-web-line.  The bangles on his wrists, as well as the dimensional stabilizer, are also all removable, so you can mix up his look appropriately that way as well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I only had moderate knowledge of Spider-Man India before going into the movie, but after seeing the movie, he jumped up very high on my want list.  He was certainly the most notable omission from what we got last year, so he was very definitely a strong choice for this line-up.  He’s just a very solid figure and a solid addition to the line.  He rounds out the main set of characters very nicely.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3741: Snake Eyes

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SNAKE EYES

G.I. JOE: REACTION+ (SUPER 7)

Well, I took a week off, but I guess I’m back with some more Super 7?  I didn’t *mean* for it to be a weekly feature, but that’s certainly where it’s sitting right now.  So, being back with the Super 7, what in particular am I focussing on?  This time around, it’s more G.I. Joe.  Hasbro’s attempt to give the Joe brand a re-launch included amongst its many product lines a revisit to the O-Ring assembly Joes of the ’80s.  Despite attempting to come at it from a few different angles, Hasbro wasn’t able to get the market support they wanted to keep the O-Rings going, so they’ve opted to license the style out.  Super 7, who already had a set of ReAction figures going at the same scale, picked up the additional license, and has launched an upgraded selection of Reaction+ figures, now with O-Ring assembly.  The first round of the figures just hit, and I’ve snagged myself a Snake Eyes to try out the line.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Snake Eyes next to Pink Tennis Ball for scaleSnake Eyes is one of the four figures that launched Super 7’s G.I. Joe ReAction+ line.  Thus far, they’re all comics-based, with Snake Eyes specifically being based on his updated V2 look that coincided with his ’85 figure.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  He’s making use of the expected O-Ring articulation set-up, or at least a version of it.  Unlike the original V2, which had the upgraded ball-jointed neck, this one’s more like the earlier vintage figures, when they still just had the swivels.  I also found his hip articulation to be a bit more restricted than your average vintage figure.  You can sort of get some side-to-side, but it’s mostly just forward and back.  Snake Eyes has an all-new sculpt, and it’s got its pluses and its minuses.  It’s generally more geometric in its shaping, and the limbs, especially the arms, are a little more tubular and less organic.  That said, there’s some very sharp detailing for the outfit, which is a little better than we’d see on a vintage release.  In particular, the head’s quite good at capturing the classic Snake Eyes look in a very clean and striking way.  I also find that the sculpt just Accessories for Snake Eyesgenerally looks a bit better and more polished than the early renders we saw initially.  Snake Eyes’ color work is reasonably well done.  The dark grey of the main body is certainly well chosen, and the blue is a more unique accent choice.  Personally, I don’t love the entirety of the boots being blue, but it’s minor.  The actual paint application is pretty clean, and I noticed no real issues on mine.  Snake Eyes is packed with a sword, Uzi, and backpack.  The weapons fit alright in the hands.  I’m not sure how the paint will hold up over time, but it looks okay now.  The back pack looks alright, but its storage for the sword isn’t a great design, and doesn’t really hold it well.  I worry about how it will hold up long term.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After falling out of love with Classified, I’ve been trying to find something good to keep some form of Joe collecting going.  I’ve been trying a little bit of everything.  This line’s announcement intrigued me, and I liked the look of the prototypes for this guy in particular.  Admittedly, I have a hard time saying no to a halfway decent Snake Eyes.  This one does a little better than halfway decent, but I can’t say he does *much* better than that.  He’s generally fun, and friendlier to mess with than a proper V2 release, and for the price point, he’s alright.  That said, I’ve definitely got some concerns, and there’s room for improvement.  I worry about this line’s long-term viability, but at least I got a fun little Snake Eyes out of it.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3740: Peter Parker

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

PETER PARKER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

It’s been the better part of a moth since I’ve looked at any Marvel Legends, which isn’t a *crazy* long time, but it is a notable hiatus for me.  I largely blame that on Hasbro’s slightly more erratic release schedule for the line in the last year, though I suppose my slightly more tailored interests regarding which figures I’m picking up also contribute.  While Beyond the Spider-Verse, the third installment in Sony’s animated Spider-Verse films is still a ways off, there’s still plenty of product to be had from the first two movies, so Hasbro’s taking the opportunity to go back and do some more of those.  Up to this point, a notable omission from the line-up has been a standard, fully-costumed version of Peter, which this latest round finally gives us, albeit in the form of Peter A…or whatever is the “official” designation of the Peter from Miles’ home dimension.  The one what’s voiced by Chris Pine.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Peter Parker is part of the second Across the Spider-Verse tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends.  However, like the standard Miles from this assortment, as well as the Peter B from the last round, he’s officially Into branded, since that’s the movie he’s actually from and all.  We are, as of yet, still without any Peters at all from Across, but it’s not like I’m bitter or anything.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  He’s a mix of old and new parts, with the upper torso and arms from the Peter B figure from last year.  It also looks like his head is the same as the Stilt-Man Series unmasked head.  The rest is new, and it offers up some improvements to the articulation scheme.  He’s now got the waist crunch like we’ve been seeing on more recent Spideys, as well as drop hips for slightly better range.  Some of the joints are a little sticky, and it would have been cool to get some butterfly shoulders, but generally it’s a nice step up.  The actual sculpting is as top-notch as the Spider-Verse figures have been the whole time.   Generally, he’s pretty sharp, and they’ve given him those nice, defined abdominal muscles to show that he’s not Peter B.  Paint here is generally pretty basic stuff.  Largely, he’s using molded colors, of course, but there’s the blue/red overlaps, which are overall okay.  There’s some slop on the mid-section of my figure, but it’s minor.  The head gets some more in depth work, with a printed face, and some accenting on the hair.  Peter is packed with a masked head (the same as the one from last year) and two sets of hands in fists and thwipping poses.  It covers the basics, but does feel a little light.  Maybe another head with a damaged mask, like his final scene showed, would have been cool.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I honestly wasn’t expecting to get this guy, especially once we’d moved onto the figures from the sequel.  I even bought the Sentinel figure largely because it came with the parts to do this look, and I wanted the option.  Hasbro sure did show me, huh?  He’s pretty basic, as far as figures go, but that’s not a bad thing.  He does what he needs to, and he does it well.  He’s an easy variant, but also a new character, so that’s very cool.  Now, with this Peter covered, can we please get one from Across finally?

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3739: Mutiny in the Ranks

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LEX LUTHOR, TALA, DEVIL RAY, DR POLARIS, GENTLEMAN GHOST, & PSYCHO PIRATE

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED (MATTEL)

Hey, ho, it’s off to more JLU reviews I go!  And, you guys didn’t have to even wait all that long for another one this time around.  Wasn’t that so very nice of me?  Heck, I’m gonna go the extra mile, and just review a whole pile of them all at once.  I mean, for a reason; I’m not just arbitrarily reviewing a bunch of them.  They’re, like, a set.  But what set?  I’ll tell you, but first, a bit of a side track!  I just finished a watch through of Justice League and Justice League Unlimited with my son Matty, which was a fun trek through memory lane.  The run notably has three effective finales, two of which were followed by there being more show.  “Starcrossed” leads into the Unlimited revamp, of course, which builds up to the finale of the Cadmus arc, a rather grounded and quite series look into the League, its enemies, and who gets caught in the crossfire.  How do you top that?  Well, you don’t even try, honestly.  Instead, the show revamped into something more akin to Challenge of the Super Friends for its final season (albeit still being more serious and thought out than anything Super Friends ever tackled), giving the expanded League roster a Legion of Doom to face off against.  The toyline ran with this as justification for doing more villains, who had been a rarity for most of the line’s run.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The “Mutiny in the Ranks” set was released as part of Mattel’s larger Justice League Unlimited line in the fall of 2009.  The pack was after the switch to the DC Universe banner, in the orange style packaging, and was part of the fourth wave of product in this packaging style.  There was a corresponding pack of heroes released at the same time, with both sets being based on the show’s final season.  All six figures included are exclusive to this set, which was quite rare for one of these bigger sets.

LEX LUTHOR

Luthor figures prominently into most of JLU, and is the central figure in the Legion of Doom storyline on the show, so he’s kind of a lock for this set, and also the real heavy hitter of the bunch.  He was no stranger to the line, being the first villain Mattel introduced into the animated style, and getting a few variants along the way.  This one…well, this one’s a bit odd.  I guess he’s meant to be based on the recolored version of Luthor’s tactical gear seen in the show’s final season, but there’s definitely been some *choices* made in the interpretation of that design.  I’ll get to that.  The figure is about 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  His sculpt is the same as the standard line release of the “Injustice For All” Luthor, so he’s the medium GL-based body, with a new head, harness, and legs with boots.  It’s not one of the line’s finer offerings.  The head’s a bit large, and just too bulbous for Luthor on the show.  His expression is also just too classically evil looking, and lacks the suave nature of the DCAU Luthor.  The harness is fine enough, though, and the booted legs do at least remove the odd uneven leg problem of the medium base mold.  The paint work is sort of there, I guess.  Like, the general colors are okay for the show design, but the layout doesn’t match at all, and ends up looking downright goofy.

TALA

Tala is a rather minor character in the comics, who initially appeared as part of Cadmus on the show, seemingly to just fill in the roster for table shots.  In the final season, she got an upgrade to full villain for unrevealed reasons in show, but in the real world seemed to be kept on because the producers liked Juliet Landau’s performance in the role.  No complaints from me on that.  The figure uses the standard female base body, which certainly has its issues.  Notably, it does feel a little short for Tala, who always appeared to be a bit on the taller side in the show.  Also, she was always barefoot, which the base is not, so it means she’s got shoes for whatever reason.  She does get a new head and skirt at least.  The head’s alright.  It’s a little too wide at the jaw, but there were certainly worse offerings in the line.  The skirt has the benefit of hiding her legs, which is a good thing when it comes to this mold.  Paint is minimal and basic.  There’s some definite slop on the edges, but it generally does what it’s supposed to.  She’s the only figure in the set to get an accessory, as she gets a display stand.

DEVIL RAY

With the Aquaman-centered Mercy Reef pilot floating around, JLU‘s final season was unable to use any Aqua-related characters, because of Warner Brothers’ rather reductive embargo set-up.  As such, the character intended to be Black Manta became “Devil Ray”, who is…well, he’s Black Manta with a different name.  Even his design works perfectly fine as an update to Manta.  Not being Manta, though, the writers didn’t need to get approval on what they did with him, so he’s a notable casualty within the show, which does up the ante a bit.  Devil Ray uses the medium male body again, with a new head and harness.  The new parts are quite nice, with the head in particular being a strong match for his show design.  He’s a little tricky to keep standing, but by this point in the line, all of the molds, especially the medium male, were degrading a bit, so weak ankles weren’t uncommon.  He relies on paint for a lot of his details, and it generally works, but the guns on his wrists do look a little silly just being flat painted on details.

DR POLARIS

Dr. Polaris continued the trend started by Star Sapphire of being a GL villain on the show who never got any real connection to GL or even any notable interactions.  He does get some decent focus after Luthor kicks Grodd out of the Legion, so good for him.  The show used the character’s original design, which is pretty goofy, but I suppose fits the tone alright.  The figure uses the medium base body, with a new head and overlay for the torso piece.  The head feels a little small, but it’s a solid, sharp sculpt that’s accurate to the show model.  The chest overlay is rather bulky and winds up making the whole figure look a little overstuffed.  There’s a weird mold error on mine that makes it look like one of his legs has snapped in half and been reglued, but beyond that, the color work is decent enough.

GENTLEMAN GHOST

Gentleman Ghost’s most notable turn on the show’s not actually with the Legion of Doom, and is instead in one of the Hawkman episodes.  However, by facing off against one of his actual foes, he does somewhat get a leg up on Dr. Polaris, so good for him.  He’s got a rather unique design, and this might have been his first figure?  I know the DCUC version came out right around the same time, so it’s a bit of a toss-up.  Still, pretty cool.  The figure uses a modified version of the two suited bodies, with a new cape piece that also had his hat and monocle mounted to the collar.  It’s not an exact science, and is only convincing from certain angles, but it’s about the best you’re going to get for ways to sell the “floating hat” look he had in the comics.  He’s got very minor paint work, since he’s largely just molded in white, but the light grey accenting’s pretty nice.

PSYCHO PIRATE

Psycho Pirate doesn’t get any focus on the show, serving just as background filler.  It does seem slightly odd for a character who’s had some very pivotal moments in the comics, but I suppose Crisis was a bit much for the show to handle.  I mean, they dedicated those three whole movies to it, and look how that turned out.  Or don’t.  Actually don’t, you guys.  It’s six hours you won’t get back.  Anyway, this guy uses the medium male body for the fourth time in this six figure set.  It seems rather bulky for Psycho Pirate, if I’m honest.  That said, it seems like parts re-use is really selling him, because he’s got Red Tornado’s cape, which they couldn’t do if he were on a different body.  He gets a new head, which is alright.  It’s got an odd shape, though, and seems too large, presumably to offset the size of the body.  It’s a shame there’s no medusa mask, but he never had it on the show, so that’s not really on Mattel.  The paint work is at least pretty nice, though.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I bought this set and the corresponding Heroes set at the same time, when they were still rather new.  I want to say they were on clearance post-2009 holidays, and I had some gift cards to spend.  Honestly, I was more invested in the heroes set at the time, and I don’t know that’s changed much in the years since.  It’s not all bad mind you.  While Luthor’s a definite weak point, the Devil Ray figure is quite cool, as is Gentleman Ghost.  And the others are decent middle of the road figures.  The set’s not super focused beyond “villains”, but that’s also not terrible focus.

#3738: Lobster Johnson

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

LOBSTER JOHNSON

HELLBOY REACTION FIGURES (SUPER 7)

Okay, who’s ready to punch some Nazis? Well, a good chunk of Golden Age comic heroes, for sure, and also some retroactive additions to that time period as well. Mike Mignola’s Hellboy, which has its main character arrive on our world during World War II, is obviously supportive of the punching Nazis front, and that includes later retroactive addition Lobster Johnson, WW2-era pulp hero turned recurring character. Lobster has become one of the franchise’s most distinctive characters, and that lends itself to some pretty decent toy coverage as well.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Lobster Johnson was released in the single-carded assortment of Super 7’s Hellboy ReAction Figures line, much like the Abe Sapien I looked at a little while back. Lobster was the only non-BPRD guy in the mix, but he’s Lobster Johnson, so he’s a pretty natural fourth figure. The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and has the usual 5 points of articulation. His sculpt is rather basic, as is the line’s style. It strips him of a lot of the grit that Mignola’s art depicted, but it still works for Lobster and his more classical pulpy vibe. Like Abe, the head still feels a touch large for the body, but not terribly so. Lobster’s color work is rather basic, which is expected; guy’s always had a pretty simple look.  The application’s decent, though, and the blue and orange details are quite striking.  Lobster was originally packaged with a small gun, which mine is unfortunately missing.  I guess he’ll just have to keep punching Nazis with his fists.  Oh, darn.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As with all of the Hellboy ReAction Figures, this is a figure I wanted back when he was new, but just wasn’t really in the spot to buy at the time, so I wound up missing him.  Like Abe, this one I got loose, when one came into All Time a little while back.  It’s a solid figure. No muss, no fuss, nothing crazy, but he’s certainly nifty and fun.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.