#1253: Game of Thrones “Legos”

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

TYRION, JAIME, & BRIENNE

GAME OF THRONES BOOTLEGOS

Most of the stuff I review on this site is totally legit, and totally on the up and up.  That being said, most toy collectors will run into at least a few bootleg action figures throughout their collecting career.  I myself have always been pretty fascinated by bootlegs, but I think the most fascinating thing is just how far they’ve come.  Back when I first learned of them, they tended to just be cheap re-molds of official products, with a pure focus on producing the cheapest item possible in the hopes of ensnaring an unsuspecting buyer.  While that sort of Bootleg still exists, there’s been a serious upswing in Bootlegs that can well and truly pass as an official product.  Sometimes it offers collectors a chance at a cheaper version of an expensive figure (as seen with the knock-off Ninja Turtles I looked at last summer), but with increasing frequency, they’ve started expanding collections by offering things you wouldn’t be able to get through legitimate means.  Like, say, if you wanted a set of Legos based on the characters from Game of Thrones…

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The three Minifigures presented here are based on Brienne of Tarth and Tyrion & Jaimie Lannister, as seen on HBO’s Game of Thrones.  From what I’ve been able to find online, there’s twelve of these figures out there, with Jon, Joffery, a White Walker, Drogo, Daenerys, Ygritte, Varys, Melisandra, and Arya all also being represented.  I’ve seen a number of different company names attached to them, which is pretty typical with these sorts of lines, since they aren’t strictly legal.  It looks like they’ve just started showing up in the last year or so.

Tyrion is kind of a lock with any GoT merch, even the illegitimate stuff.  He’s seen here in this season 1/season 2 attire, and his lack of a scar shows he predates the Battle of Blackwater.  His base body is a good mimic of the standard Lego faire, to the point the most people would be unlikely to notice.  There’s a little more give to the plastic than there would be on a real Lego product, but that’s about it.  He uses the smaller leg piece, to help make him shorter than the others, as well as the surfer dude hair, which is actually a pretty good fit.  Like his construction, his paint is a pretty good mock of the actual Lego stuff; you can clearly make out the important details on his vest, and his face is a halfway decent Lego-ization of Dinklage.  His scuff is a bit dark I think, but that’s about it.  Tyrion’s gimmick is drinking and knowing things; knowing things is a bit hard to indicate through accessories, so he has to settle for just the drinking bit, with the included golden goblet.  It’s half as tall as he is, which is more than a little amusing.

Jaimie may not be GoT’s most pivotal character, but he’s one of the more intriguing ones (for me anyway).  He’s had a diverse selection of looks throughout the show’s run, but this figure goes for his Kingsguard look from season 1, just like his Funko figure did.  It’s probably his most distinctive look, even if he didn’t spend a ton of time in it.  He uses the Snape hair, which is a reasonable fit for the character, I suppose.  He’s also got the standard knight’s armor piece, and a cloth cape.  The cape I think is the piece that most gives this away as inauthentic; it’s just not the same quality as the usual Lego capes.  It’s not awful, but it also hangs a bit weird.  Jaime’s paint is decent enough, and I really like the chainmail details on the arms and legs.  That being said, the decision to mold his body in all white feels slightly off to me.  Maybe more of a cream color would have worked better?  He’s packed with a fairly standard broadsword, which suits him well enough.

Brienne is one of my favorite parts of Game of Thrones.  She’s one of the few noble characters to have stuck around, and I continue to enjoy her in every appearance.  Here’s hoping she gets more to do next season!  This figure appears to be based on her early appearances, back when she was lugging Jaime around.  I think.  The cape is throwing me.  She uses the generic hairpiece used for the likes of Cyclops and Hal Jordan, along with the same armor piece used for Jaime, which captures her general look pretty well.  She also gets a cloth cape and skirting under her armor.  The cloth pieces are a little more convincing here, but still a little off.  Her paint isn’t quite as finely detailed as Jaime’s, but it looks like her to me, so I’m satisfied.  In particular, I really like that look of determination on her face; it’s so Brienne!  Like Jaime, she includes a basic broadsword.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked these up from one of the venders at this year’s Farpiont.  I was just wandering through the dealer’s room, and I casually looked over at the Lego table, when a Drogo caught my eye.  They had the whole set of twelve, but I ended up going with the characters that looked the best, which were these three.  It’s so odd to have Legos of this sort of property, but I’m certainly not complaining.  I think Brienne’s my favorite of the set, with Tyrion not far behind.  Jaime’s okay, but seems the most off of the bunch.  Still, all three are solid little figures.  Now, I just need to avoid falling down the bootlego rabbit hole completely.  That would be bad.

#1252: Ms. Marvel

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

MS MARVEL

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

After sorting out their issue of not ever being able to hold onto a character named Captain Marvel by promoting the original Ms. Marvel to Captain, Marvel ran into another problem:  what do they do about the Ms. Marvel name they just vacated?  They kind of need to have a character using that name, lest some distinguished competition steal it out from under them.  While they had solved the first problem by promoting an old character, the Ms. Marvel problem was solved be creating an all-new character entirely.  Enter Kamala Khan, a Pakistani-American teenager, who also happens to be an Inhuman (though that doesn’t really get brought up much; if she’d been introduced five years prior she would have just been a mutant) who possesses shape shifting abilities.  Not gonna lie, I like shape shifters, so that was a good start.  She hit the ground running with one of Marvel’s better solo books back in 2014, and she’s even made her way into the Avengers and the recently re-launched Champions.  And now, she’s got the very best thing of all: an action figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ms. Marvel was released in the Sandman Series of Marvel Legends.  It’s either the last 2016 series of Spider-Man Legends or the first 2017 series, depending on how you want to look at it.  The figures started hitting at the tail end of December (which is how I got Spider-UK), but a lot of places are only just starting to see them show up.  Why is Ms. Marvel in a Spider-Man series?  Your guess is as good as mine.  As far as I know, there aren’t any strictly Avengers-themed sets planned for a while, and she certainly fits in better here than with the X-Men or Guardians stuff.  A figure’s a figure; I’m certainly not going to complain.  Her figure stands about 5 1/2 inches tall and she has 29 points of articulation.  Kamala is built not the Spider-Girl body, which is always a good starting point in my opinion, and is a good fit for the character.  She gets a new head, and upper and lower torso pieces, as well as add-ons for her bracelet and scarf.  All of the new pieces are really solid additions; Ms Marvel has a pretty distinctive art style, which kind of informs how the character should look, but can also be tricky when trying to have her fit in with an established line.  You never want to go too artist specific with a line like this, but you also don’t want her to end up too bland and generic.  She walks the line pretty well; she’s clearly taking inspiration from her solo book, but she also feels right at home with the rest of the line.  I sort of wish her face were a little more expressive or goofy, since that’s sort of her character, but I can see why they’d want something slightly more neutral.  It’s a nice sculpt regardless.  My one minor complaint is just an issue with my figure; one of her ankle joints is pretty well stuck, and it’s made keeping her standing quite the difficult task.  Kamala’s paint is nice, bold, and bright, which is definitely appropriate for her.  The gold in particular is a really nice shade, and doesn’t appear to be the sort of gold that will start to degrade over time. Application is mostly pretty sharp, with only some minor slop, mostly around the edge of her sleeves.  Shapeshifting can be a difficult power set to show off in toy form, but Hasbro’s given it their best go.  Kamala includes an alternate pair of foreams, which are enlarged and stretched out.  While they loose the wrist movement, they are otherwise really fun pieces.  This is probably the best way of handling the shapeshifting thing, and I hope they do something similar when they tackle Mr. Fantastic.  In addition to the extra arms, she also includes the torso the the Series’s Build-A-Figure, Sandman.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Kamala was definitely at the top of my want list from this series.  I’ve been following her comic since issue 1, and I’ve really enjoyed the character.  I was bummed back in December when I thought I’d missed her figure.  Fortunately, I ended up finding her and the rest of the series at a local K-Mart.  Unfortunately, K-Mart seems to have started hiking up their prices, and were asking for an extra $5 per figure.  Not worth it for the others, but I didn’t mind so much in Kamala’s case.  This is definitely a solid figure, and another win for Hasbro!

#1251: Kilowog

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

KILOWOG

GREEN LANTERN: MOVIE (MATTEL)

You know how I rag on Mattel a lot, but sometimes they still do things right, and I can give them props?  This isn’t one of those times.

2011’s Green Lantern isn’t a particularly well-regarded film.  In a lot of ways, I don’t think it deserves a lot of the hate it gets.  It had the misfortune of being released in a summer already pretty jam-packed with super hero movies, three of which hailed from Marvel and were generally above expectations.  Marvel fans wanted another Iron Man (which, in their defense, is what DC was promoting the film as; not their smartest move) and DC fan’s wanted The Dark Knight.  The end result is really more in line with Tim Burton’s Batman movies.  It definitely could have been better, but it was far from awful.  One of the movie’s better aspects was its cast.  The late Michael Clarke Duncan made his second turn in super hero flick (his first being the similarly maligned Daredevil; I ain’t defending that one!), playing the GL drill sergeant Kilowog.  He got a few figures courtesy of Mattel’s tie-in line.  I’ll be looking at the standard version today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Kilowog was released in the first series of Green Lantern figures, which hit about a month or so before the movie’s release.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and has 8 points of articulation.  The articulation scheme on these figures was really strange; it’s not totally out of the ordinary to see lesser articulated figures in the 3 3/4-inch scale, but these figures randomly had extra shoulder joints, which tend to come after elbows and knees in the articulation hierarchy.  Also, while Hasbro’s started offering more lower POA figures as of late, their competing figures from 2011’s Thor and Captain America lines were fully articulated.  Heck, even Mattel’s own DC Infinite Heroes line was fairly decently articulation.  I’m not really sure why these figures were so out of sync with everything around them.  I’m getting distracted.  Sorry.  Kilowog had a unique sculpt initially, but it would eventually be reused for a number of variants as the line progressed.  It’s a reasonable translation of Kilowog’s movie design.  Of course, the problem with that is that his movie design wasn’t really their strongest.  I mean, it’s nice that he didn’t have the same muscle striation thing that Hal did, but he’s just for of lumpy looking.  Also, they seriously tweaked the shape of his head, which always bugged me; he looks more like Shrek than Kilowog.  Objectively speaking, the head on this figure was definitely the best part.  It’s actually so detailed that it looks rather out of place on the smooth and mostly featureless body.  They almost look like they belong to different figures.  Also, note that once again Mattel has made no attempt to work the articulation into the sculpt.  It’s especially bad at the waist, where there’s really no good reason to have a joint that obvious.  Like many of this line’s figures, Kilowog’s feet are bent back a little too far, which results in a lot of falling on his back.  Getting the two photos for this review was no small feat.  As far as paint, Kilowog was okay, but suffers from a very similar issue as with the sculpt.  The head has some very nice, very subtle work, which makes him look really lifelike.  Then the body seems to just let the paint go where it goes.  One thing that really frustrated me with this whole line was the inconsistency of the greens.  Pretty much ever lantern had their own shade, which was really odd, since that wasn’t true onscreen.  Was it really that hard to pick on pantone number and stick with it?  Each figure in the line included their own construct piece to slip over their ring hand.  Kilowog actually didn’t get a proper construct, but instead got the larger hand adapter piece, which allowed for him (and other larger figures) to make use of the constructs included with smaller figures.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up a handful of the GL movie figures when they were first released, during my pre-movie excitement, and Kilowog was one of those figures.  No figure in this line is particularly noteworthy, but Kilowog was probably the best the line had to offer.  He’s got his issues, but he’s also got some saving graces, which is more than can be said about a lot of the line.

#1250: Baron Zemo

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

BARON ZEMO

MARVEL LEGENDS (TOY BIZ)

Earlier this month, I took a look at Baron Helmut Zemo, who’s one of my favorite Captain America villains. Well, he’s my favorite Cap villain that’s not a crazy leaping Frenchman…or a robot with face for a torso…look, he’s nearer the top of the list than he is the bottom, alright?  Anyway, I looked at Helmut, but he wasn’t the first Baron Zemo to face off against Cap.  No, that would be his dad, Baron Heinrich Zemo, who, amongst other things, founded the Masters of Evil.  Heinrich hasn’t been quite as prevalent to the toy world as his son, but he’s gotten a few entries.  He was actually the only Baron Zemo to be released during Toy Biz’s lengthy tenure producing Marvel figures, and was even one of the last figures they produced.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Baron Zemo was released in Series 14 of Toy Biz’s Marvel Legends, which was also commonly known as the “Mojo Series” after its Build-A-Figure.  It was the penultimate series of the line, and ended up being rushed into production so that Toy Biz could get it out before passing the license off to Hasbro.  The figure stands a little over 6 inches tall and he has 36 points of articulation.  As with so many of Toy Biz’s Legends figures, there was a definite priority placed on the articulation over the integrity of the sculpt on this guy.  For some, that was less of an issue, but on this guy?  Oh boy, it’s pretty bad.  Now, admittedly, there were some production things that made some problems crop up that weren’t on the initial prototype (mostly the neck), but this guy was always going to look sort of…weird.  His shape is vaguely human, I guess.  The hands and feet were definitely too large, the neck too long, the waist both too high and too thin, and the limbs too skinny.  His clothes are both uncomfortably clingy and oddly loose, in a way that he would have to have them sewn on him that way.  It just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.  I mean, if you take some of the pieces individually, there’s some good stuff there.  The head is pretty good, and captures his comics design pretty well.  The boots are also pretty nice, especially the fur lining.  The holster’s okay, but the gun’s non removable, which is always very frustrating.  Other than that, though, it’s pretty goofy.  Did no one stand back, look at this guy, and go “that looks nothing like a human?”  Because I did that.  On top of the very questionable sculpt, there were also some major quality control issues on this series in particular.  Most of the figures, Zemo included, were saddled with incredibly rubbery joints.  It makes getting him to stand quite difficult, and leaves him always looking the slightest bit deflated.  The paintwork on this guy is probably his strongest aspect.  It’s still not perfect; the gold pieces in particular are a real mess, and the washes can be rather hit and miss.  However, it’s still pretty passable.  Zemo included the head and upper torso of Mojo, as well as a weird staff thing.  The staff is kind of goofy; there’s a hole in the handle and a corresponding peg in his right hand, but he never holds it in a particularly convincing way.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got most of Series 14 for as Christmas presents in 2006, and Zemo was amongst them.  I was happy to have him at the time (Legends was my absolute favorite line to collect at that point), but even when he was new, I knew he was less than stellar in execution.  This is definitely a figure I’d like to see Hasbro tackle at some point, especially since I liked their Helmut figure so much.

Flashback Figure Friday #0008: Robin

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

Hey, look at that, I missed another Friday.  Last week was pretty jam-packed, and I barely had the time to right Friday’s main review, much less a second feature.  Nevertheless, I apologize to all of you who were expecting one of these last week!

This week’s Flashback Friday Figure Addendum is actually less an addendum, and more me going back and finally writing a proper review for #0166: Robin.  Why?  You’ll see in a second.

Okay guys and gals, hang on tight. The site is about to go off! No, not like “off” off. It’s still gonna be here. It’s going off in a metaphorical sense, because today, we’ll be looking at one of the greatest entries into the world of action figures ever.

This figure hails from the very first Batman line released once Mattel had picked up the DC license. I know I’ve been hard on Mattel in the past, but it’s only because I’ve been trying to hold them to the standards they set for themselves so early into their run. You see, this Batman line was important, but not for the ways you think. Oh, sure the Batmen were cool and all (especially those sweet neon colored gun-toting variants!), but the real star of this line was Robin! So, let’s have a look at the greatest toy to ever grace shelves!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Robin was the flagship figure of the first series of Batman. He was the real heavy hitter of the wave, there so that Mattel could take chances on the Joker and Martial Arts Batman. He stands about 5 inches tall, and has 10 points of articulation, which may seem like a low number, but they had to take that awesome sculpt into account. Speaking of that awesome sculpt: has Robin ever looked this cool before? I mean, they really out did themselves. I’ve always found that a bad head sculpt can ruin a great figure. In this case, Mattel has wisely chosen to leave off the head so as to avoid any potential issue. This is the first time I’ve ever truly believed that Robin could make people think he’s anyone other than Tim Drake. I mean, Tim Drake has a head and Robin doesn’t. Can’t be the same guy! I’d also love to commend Mattel on the body sculpt, which perfectly captures Robin’s physique. I mean, those muscles are so realistic! And the torso’s straight posture coupled with the relaxed muscles everywhere else? Perfection. I’m heartbroken to say that I lost the accessories included with Robin. He had his ever present Blade-Shield thingy with his logo on it, which was such an important staple of the character at the time. It even launched discs! Who doesn’t need one of those?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I knew as soon as I saw the prototype pictures of this figure back in 2003 that it was going to be the figure to own. So, naturally, I spent all my time searching for this figure at every nearby store, day and night. Eventually I found one, and after sucker punching a four year old and his grandmother to get it, finally the figure was in my possession!

Yeah, so this was my first April Fool’s Day post.  It’s almost quaint, isn’t it?  This review was more a joke thing than anything.  Now a days, I’d have written the review both ways, but the figure was quite incomplete at the time.  Since I finally found this guy’s freaking head, I guess I can actually review him now!

The figure, officially titled “Battle Board Robin,” was released in the first series of Mattel’s 2003 Batman line.  Robin stands about 6 inches tall and has 11 points of articulation.  The main hook of this line at the time was that they’d brought in the Four Horsemen (who had just helped Mattel relaunch Masters of the Universe) to sculpt most of the figures, including the Bat-variants.  There was one exception to this in the first series.  Care to guess who it was?  Yep, it was this here Robin figure, which was handled by Mattel’s in-house team.  In their defense, it’s actually a decent enough sculpt.  It doesn’t look quite as good as the  prototype did, but what figure does?  His muscles are sort of impossible, and I’ve always disliked how stiff he was, bit there are some nice things about the sculpt.  The boots in particular look pretty solid.  But how about that head that I finally found after all these years?  Well, full disclosure: the reason it was missing when I found him was because I had fully intended to replace it with another one.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t particularly good at sculpting at 12, so the replacement I made wasn’t much better.  Ultimately, this one’s okay, but not my favorite Robin head.  I think it’s got a lot to do with the hair, which just doesn’t really look like anything Tim ever sported.  Also, still missing from the figure is his cape.  It was just two pieces of fabric glued together, and was too thick and short to actually hang realistically.  It’s kind of exhibit A of why I prefer capes to be sculpted.  In terms of paint, this figure was fairly basic colors.  For some reason the gloves are black.  Don’t know why, never did.  The accents on the muscles and some of the other sculpted work actually weren’t standard to the figure; I added them around the time that I tried replacing the head.  I really wanted to salvage this figure for some reason.  His only accessory was his titular Battle Board, which was really just a disc launcher than he could also stand on.  It was an odd choice.

There’s actually not a particularly exciting figure regarding the acquisition of this figure.  He, Joker, and the basic (Zipline) Batman were all really hard to find when these figures started hitting stores.  I eventually found him at the KB Toys near where my family vacationed (I got him alongside some Star Trek: Nemesis figures.  Oh what a joyous day that was).  He’s not awful, but he’s also not super great.  The saddest thing is that Mattel never actually returned to this design for Robin (apart from an inaccurate repaint of the later DCUC figure), so this is the best there is from them.   

#1249: Hank Venture

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

HANK VENTURE

THE VENTURE BROS (BIF BANG POW!)

Hey look, another Venture Bros figure.  That’s…probably rather predictable, isn’t it?  Yeah, I’d say so.  Yesterday, I looked at half of the titular duo, so it’s only proper that today I look at the other half.  So, without further ado, here’s Dean’s brother Hank!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Like Dean, Hank was part of the short-lived small-scale Venture Bros line from Bif Bang Pow!  He was released alongside his brother and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch, in the first “wave” of figures.  The figure is about 3 3/4 inches tall (he’s just a hair taller than his brother, as he should be) and he has 10 points of articulation.  His movement is the same as his brother’s, which is to be expected.  I’d still like a little more movement, but the basics are at least covered.   I do have to say that, while he’s thicker than his brother, he’s also not quite as easy to keep standing as Dean was, which can be rather frustrating.  Hank is sporting his early, Fred Jones-inspired look, which, as I noted in Dean’s review, is easily his most distinctive look.  In terms of translating his 2D look into 3D, I don’t know that Hank is quite as successful as Dean.  He’s still very close, but something seems just the slightest bit off.  I do like that he and Dean clearly have the same facial structure, just like they do in the show.  It really sells them as brothers.  Hank’s sculpt is pretty solid work, and they’ve gotten the important details down.  He carries himself better than his slightly hunched brother, which looks good overall, but does result in him looking a little stiffer than Dean.  Not sure who that could have been avoided, though.  Hank’s paint is a bit of a step down from Dean.  Of course, Dean was really good, so that’s not the worst thing ever.  The basic work is decent, and the face is still pretty clean.  Mostly, the issues have to do with the lines around his neckerchief, which are just very sloppy.  I’ve seen worse, but it’s still pretty noticeable.  The price of working with white paint, I suppose.  Like his brother, Hank doesn’t come with any extras of his own, but he does get another item for Brock: a knife.  That would probably be awesome if I had a Brock figure!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I ordered Hank from Amazon at the same time as Dean, as you can’t really have just one of the brothers.  That would be kind of weird.  While he’s got some minor issues, he’s by and large on par with Dean, and that’s really great.  These pair make for a nice little set.  Maybe someday I’ll actually find a Brock to go with them, but until then at least I have the two of them.  Go Team Venture!

#1248: Dean Venture

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

DEAN VENTURE

THE VENTURE BROS. (BIF BANG POW!)

I got on board the Venture Bros train pretty late.  I’ve caught the occasional episode here and there over the years, but I really only just started watching it this past fall, and got caught up to the latest season just over a month ago.  It’s a fun show, and a very amusing send-up to Saturday morning cartoons of old.  Of course, a show can hardly be a send-up to Saturday morning cartoons without at least a little bit of merchandise, right?  The earliest Venture Bros figures were Mego-styled (at the request of the show’s creators), and there were a rather extensive set of those produced.  Eventually, a set of more traditional action figures were also released.  Those seem to be the ones that are the easiest/cheapest to acquire on the aftermarket, so they ended up being the ones for me.  Today, I’ll be looking at one of the two titular brothers, Dean!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Dean was part of Bif Bang Pow!’s short-lived, seven figure The Venture Bros line of figures.  He was released in the first “wave” of figures, alongside his brother and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and has 10 points of articulation.  The articulation on Dean is okay, if a bit rudimentary.  Obviously, his small scale and slender build prevents any crazy levels of articulation, but bicep swivels at the very least would have been nice.  Nevertheless, you can get him into some decent poses, and he’s surprisingly sturdy.  He’s also very well balanced, and stands on his own with no needed support,which may seem minor, but is always a very welcome thing with action figures.  Dean is presented here in his early seasons 1 and 2 look, when he was still doing the ‘60s Peter Parker thing.  As much as I’ve come to appreciate the “grown-up” designs from later in the show, there’s no denying that the original designs for Hank and Dean are the more distinctive ones.  As with any figure that is based on a two-dimensional design, there’s a degree of compromise that has to occur to make the figure work from more than one angle. Dean’s sculpt does this pretty well; there are some angles where his resemblance is better than others, but the overall likeness is very good, goofy grin and everything.  He’s been sculpted with the slightest bit of a slouch, which is appropriate to the way Dean tends to carry himself in the show (it’s also a nice tie back to his father, who has a very similar posture).  The paint on Dean is incredibly well handled; while I’ve got some minor quibbles with some of the color choices (he seems a little washed out), the actual application is incredibly sharp and clean.  Even the small details, such as his eyes and freckles, are on point.  Dean’s only accessory isn’t actually meant for him: he includes a shotgun, which is supposed to go with the Brock figure.  Dean can sort of hold it, but it’s comically large when compared to him.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Okay, so if I had to choose just one Venture Bros character to own, it’d probably be Henchman 21, but he wasn’t in this line.  My second choice would be Brock, but literally no one anywhere online is selling the basic black t-shirt Brock figure.  So, I went for my third choice, which was actually both of the brothers.  I ordered them through Amazon, and Dean was the first to arrive.  Which is actually okay, because I’m partial to Dean of the two  This figure is actually surprisingly good.  Sure, the articulation’s a little outdated, but the sculpt and the paint are really top notch.  Really cool!

#1247: Rogue

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

ROGUE

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

Another non-newest series of X-Men Marvel Legends X-Men figure?  Does this mean Ethan’s still looking for that freaking Cyclops figure?  No, actually.  Ethan found that freaking Cyclops figure yesterday afternoon.  He was very excited about that freaking Cyclops figure.  But, he also needs some time to properly appreciate those figures before jumping into the reviews.  Still, X-Men on the brain and all that, so let’s take a look at the back catalogue again.  We’re going even further back this time, and pulling out one of the old Toy Biz 5-inch figures.  Let’s look at Rogue!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Rogue was released in Series 6 of Toy Biz’s X-Men line, and was by far the most popular figure in the series.  She was actually quite rare for some time, but was eventually re-released as part of the KB Toys-exclusive Marvel Universe line.  The two figures are more or less identical.  I think mine may actually be the re-release, since the timelines line up best that way.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation.  The articulation count is a bit lower than other figures TB was producing at the time, mostly due to the upper cut action feature on her left arm, which removes the neck movement (to allow for the lever that activates the feature) and the left elbow movement.  It also limits the left shoulder a bit.  Not really sure why they opted to go for such an intrusive feature.  Rogue sported an all-new sculpt (which would later be re-used for Polaris).  It’s fairly standard for the time.  Nothing super amazing, but it’s a decent enough recreation of her Jim Lee look.  Her proportions are a bit weird; her hairs is really small, and her legs seem to make up a larger portion of her body than they should.  She’s also a bit on the boxy side.  But, like I said, fairly standard for the time, so I can’t judge it too harshly.  Missing from my figure is her add-on belt, which replicated her wacky asymmetrical thing from the comics.  Yay for asymmetry!  Rogue’s paint work is decent enough.  Everything is applied pretty cleanly and all of the important details are there.  I will say I’ve always found this figure’s color palette to be a bit washed out and dull.  I guess the cartoon and future figures just have made me expect this costume to be a bit warmer.  Rogue included no accessories, not even the weird ‘90s blaster thing that Toy Biz seemed to give to all of the other figures who they couldn’t think of anything better to give to.  Alas, I suppose she’ll just have to steal one from one of the other figures.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Rogue was one of the last “main X-Men” I got when I was growing up.  Most of the others had seen one or two re-releases, so getting them wasn’t too prohibitive.  I actually ended up getting the 10-inch version of her first.  Ultimately, I’m pretty sure I ended up with the Universe re-release when it hit.  I think she was a Christmas present from my parents if I’m not mistaken, likely from our first Christmas in the house I spent most of my childhood in.  She may not be the best Rogue figure I own, or even the first Rogue figure I owned, but I was really happy to get her when she was new.

#1246: Strong Zealot & Astral Form Doctor Strange

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

STRONG ZEALOT & ASTRAL FORM DOCTOR STANGE

MARVEL MINIMATES

Okay, one more day of the Doctor Strange Minimates.  Well, unless I track down the two specialty exclusive sets.  Which I probably will, because that’s the sort of person I am.  Anyway, today we get another version of the film’s title character, who this time around is facing off against one of Kaecilius’s Zealot followers.  Specifically the strong one.  It says so on the box!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The Strong Zealot and Astral Form Doctor Strange were the Toys R Us-exclusive set for the Doctor Strange assortment of Marvel Minimates.  It’s actually a pretty solid pairing, since the Strange fights this particular Zealot while in Astral Form.

STRONG ZEALOT

Okay, so the box just calls him “Strong Zealot,” but this guy was actually named Lucian (not that it’s ever said in the movie), and he was played by stunt man Scott Adkins.  This is actually the second time Adkins has gotten a Minimate; he portrayed Weapon XI in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  Hey, it’s not his fault!  Anyway, this particular Zealot was actually fairly important, so it’s cool that he got his own specific ‘mate.  The figure is built on the standard ‘mate body, so he’s about 2 1/4 inches tall and he has the usual 14 points of articulation.  He has two add-on pieces for his hair and skirt piece. The hair s re-used from BSG’s Anders.  It’s not a perfect match for Lucian’s hair, but it’s close enough that it doesn’t look too off.  The skirt looks to be a new piece, and it’s about on par with the rest of the pieces from this particular assortment.  Actually, the details might even be a little sharper on this particular piece, which is always a good thing.  The paint on the Zealot is generally pretty top-notch.  He’s got all of the various shades of purple down pretty well, and there’s plenty of detail work therein.  He’s got the funky eyes to match Kaecilius’ alternate head, and it looks just as cool here as it did there, with the added bonus of being on a slightly better ‘mate.  Lucian’s only extra is a clear display stand.  While something else might have been nice, I can’t really think of anything else you could give him.  Maybe a head without the eye stuff?

ASTRAL FORM DOCTOR STRANGE

Astral Form Strange figures are pretty standard, since they mean you can get an easy re-use out of the already existing Strange molds.  That being said, this is actually the first time the look has shown up in ‘mate form, so it’s noteworthy in that respect.  Anyway, this figure uses all the same pieces as the regular Doctor Strange from this same series.  They were good there, and they remain good here.  He keeps the cloak of levitation, despite its absence during his main Astral Projection scene, but I’m hardly going to complain about getting an extra piece here.  The main difference here is the coloring; this figure is molded in a translucent pale yellow, which works well enough.  He still retained his overall coloring in the movie, with just a slight tint, but that’s a bit harder to do in plastic, so this is the look that most figure versions have been going with.  The actual details are lifted directly from the normal Strange figure as well.  While a different expression or something might have been nice, this is perfectly acceptable.  Like his pack-mate, Strange’s only extra is the display stand, which is a little frustrating on a figure that’s all parts re-use.  A flight stand or something would have been nice.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like the last two sets, this pair was a Valentine’s Day gift from Super Awesome Girlfriend.  This set is definitely less essential than the last two, but I find myself really liking it.  Lucian’s a cool minor character, and we finally get Strange in one of his more important looks (and you can probably pass this off as comic version if you really want to).  All in all, this is a pretty fun set.

#1245: Mordo & Kaecilius

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

MORDO & KAECILIUS

MARVEL MINIMATES

When Doctor Strange was still in production and most of what we had was cast list, there was a lot of confusion about who exactly would be the film’s antagonist.  Mordo, one of Strange’s usual foes, had been cast, but Marvel was reporting he would be on the side of good this time.  Mads Mickelson had been cast, but as who?  Everything seemed to point to either Dormamu or Nightmare, since those are really the only two other foes anyone’s ever heard of.  So, it was a bit of a surprise when Mickelson was revealed to be playing Kaecilius, a rather minor character from the comics.  Ultimately, while he’s certainly a driving force in the film, Kaecilius takes the back seat to….pretty much every one else in the film.  He didn’t get picked up for either the Marvel Legends or Marvel Select tie-ins for the film, but fortunately Minimates can offer a more rounded cast, so he did show up there, alongside Mordo.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Mordo and Kaecilius are the second of the two sets shared between Series 70 of Marvel Minimates and the TRU-exclusive tie-in series for the movie.  They’re easily the oddest pairing in the assortment.  They are in some scenes together, but I don’t believe these two ever directly interact in the film.  I guess they’re a case of pairing the spares in the assortment.

MORDO

Mordo was definitely my favorite part of the movie, and clearly had a decent following, so it’s my guess that he’s meant to be this particular set’s hook.  The figure is built on the usual ‘mate body, and so he has all the standard articulation and is about 2 1/4 inches in height. He uses add-ons for his hair and skirt.  The hair is a re-use of TWD’s Battle-Damaged Tyrese, and it’s a pretty good fit for Mordo’s on-screen appearance.  The skirt is a new piece, ad it matches up pretty well with the design from he movie, as well as fitting in stylistically with the sculpted pieces from Strange.  I do wish it sat a little more flush with the upper torso, but that’s a minor complaint.  The paint work on Mordo is quite expertly handled.  The base color work is all pretty good; he doesn’t seem to have been brightened up like the others, but that’s okay for him.  The details are really top notch.  He’s got the appropriate scars on his face, and the slightest bit of stubble.  I don’t know that he’s the spitting image of Ejiofor, but he’s close enough that you can more or less make out who he’s supposed to be.  The most impressive paint work is definitely not he torso, which has a ton of really ornate work, on both the front and the back no less.  Mordo’s only accessory is a clear display stand.  It’s too bad he didn’t also get his staff.  The inaccuracy of the one included with the Hasbro figure and the total omission here leads me to believe it wasn’t included in the material sent to licensors.

KAECILIUS

Here he is!  The bland guy himself!  Okay, that’s not really fair.  Kaecilius was perfectly entertaining, and Mads Mickelson turned in a pretty great performance in the role.  But he really was rather secondary, wasn’t he?  Anyway, like Mordo, he’s build on the standard body.  He uses  add-ons for his hair and skirt.  Both pieces are new to this figure, and do a reasonable job of capturing Kaecilius’s look from the movie.  The skirt is a little on the soft side, but not horribly so.  The paint work on Kaecilius is okay, but probably the weakest in the series.  There’s a fair bit of slop on the base color work, which is rather frustrating.  The worst of it seems to be on the skirt, which doesn’t help the already present issues with the softness of the sculpt.  The detail lines are all pretty clean, and they sum up his look pretty well, but they feel a bit simplistic when compared to the really fine level of details seen on Mordo and Strange.  The basic head presents a decent enough likeness of Mickelson, but is rather bland.  There’s an alternate “powered” head, which helps to make him a little more exciting.  The details around the eyes are nice and sharp, and do a nice job of capturing the cracked skin as it looks on screen.  In addition to the extra head, he’s also got the standard display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like yesterday’s set, these two were a Valentine’s Day present from Super Awesome Girlfriend.  While Mordo’s probably my favorite ‘mate in the series, Kaecilius is definitely the weakest figure included.  He’s just rather bland, and lacks the really solid execution like we saw on the Ancient One.  Still, it’s not a bad set, and accents yesterday’s pair quite well!