#1194: First Order Stormtrooper Squad Leader

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

FIRST ORDER STORMTROOPER SQUAD LEADER

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

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It’s been almost a week since the last time I looked at a Star Wars toy.  And I amassed quite a number of them towards the backend of last year, so there’s just sort of this pile of them waiting to be reviewed.  Here’s one off the pile.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

fosquadleader2The First Order Stormtrooper Squad Leader was part of the early 2016 Snow Gear assortment, alongside unmasked Kylo Ren and Nien Nunb).  The figure stands a little under 4 inches tall and has 5 points of articulation.  In terms of construction, the Squad Leader uses the same basic tooling as the standard FO Trooper (and by extension, all of it’s deviations, reviewed in the First Order Legion set), which is sensible.  As I noted when I reviewed it before, it’s a pretty strong sculpt, and accurately recreates the First Order armor from the movie.  The main appeal of this figure is the web-gear, which is unique to this guy.  It’s a combination of the Heavy Artillery Trooper’s ammo vest with an Officer’s pauldron.  It’s different enough to keep him interesting, which I guess is the point.  Paintwork for this figure is pretty much on par with the other FO Troopers I’ve looked at.  There are some fuzzy lines here and there, but by and large he’s pretty good.  The Squad Leader includes a basic blaster rifle, as well as a much larger blaster that’s part of the build-a-whatsit.  It’s kind of a cool piece, though it’s actually taller than he his, so getting him to hold it is kind of tricky.  Still, better than a lot of the pieces included with these figures.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Being part of one of the later assortments of the Force Awakens line, this guy never really showed up at retail in full force.  I ended up getting this guy from Cosmic Comix during their Biggest Sale of the Year! (TM).  I like the Heavy Trooper look, and I liked this variation of it, so I got him.  Is he really different from figures I already own?  Not really, but he’s still pretty fun.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0002: Hydro Claw Robin

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

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For my second Flashback Friday Figure Addendum, I’ll be following the lead of my actual reviews, and taking another look at my very first figure of the other half of the Dynamic Duo.  Let’s look back at Hydro Claw Robin!

So, yesterday’s post was about my very first action figure, Batman.  And, because a hero’s no good without his sidekick, here’s my very first figure of his old chum: Robin.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Hydro Claw Robin is a Robin variant from the Batman Forever line.  He’s actually a fairly standard looking Robin, though he’s not THE standard looking Robin of the line.  His main feature, now lost to me, was a jetpack with wings, a rebreather, and the eponymous “Hydro Claw.”  It’s really unfortunate that I’ve lost this piece, as I recall that it was really quite cool, but alas, 4 year old me was not very good at keeping track of such things!  Even without the accessory, this is still a pretty stand up version of Robin, even if it is based on the utterly terrible Chris O’Donnell.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure is a good deal less of a mystery than the Night Hunter Batman.  This guy was a gift from my dear Aunt Susan for Christmas 1995.  I had asked for a Robin figure to prevent my caped crusader from being too lonely, and she was more than happy to oblige.  Christmas morning I opened this guy up and joyfully danced around the room for a good 5 minutes, humming the Batman theme song.  I know, that story is so sweet it almost hurts, doesn’t it?

Man, I always forget how brief I used to be with these reviews.  I don’t know if my wordiness is a good thing or a bad thing.

Once again, I’ve left out a number of things I would now consider standard, namely that the figure is about 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation. The main thing missing the first time I reviewed the figure was his wingpack, which has a rebreather and the titular Hydro Claw attached.  It’s actually one of my favorite parts of the figure, and I was quite bummed that it was missing, so discovering it was one of my biggest bits of excitement during “the Great Find.”  What’s pretty neat about this piece is how it sort of completes the classic Robin color scheme, with its large presence of yellow.

I love this figure no matter what, but he really feels so much more awesome now that he’s complete again!  Now he and Night Hunter Batman are proudly adorning one of the bookshelves in my living room, and I really couldn’t be happier about that.  Even if he’s still based on Chris O’Donnell….

#1193: A.I.M. Soldier

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

A.I.M. SOLDIER

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

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Back when Toy Biz was still handling Marvel toys, they were prone to showing off figures that would never see the light of day (and they frequently showed them after these decisions were made, because apparently someone working there just loooooved rubbing salt in wounds).  For the 13th series of Marvel Legends, dubbed “Bring on the Bad Guys,” they initially planned to pack each villain with one of the Marvel universe’s many faceless henchmen, but they were eventually cut and replaced with the Onslaught Build-A-Figure.  Seven henchmen were shown: a Skull, a Brood, a Hand Ninja, a Hellfire Club Guard, a Doom Bot, a Hydra Agent, and an A.I.M. Soldier.  The Scrull and Brood eventually were released as part of DST’s Marvel Select line, and Hasbro would release their own versions of the Hydra Agent and Hand Ninja.  When it came time to make an A.I.M. Soldier, Hasbro has switched to the smaller-scale Marvel Universe line; he was a cool figure and all, but it just wasn’t the same.  Eight years after Series 13’s release, the A.I.M. Soldier finally made his way into Marvel Legends.  That’s the figure I’ll be looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

aim2The A.I.M. Soldier was released in the first series of the Captain America: The Winter Solider Marvel Legends Infinite Series.  The official title is “Soldiers of A.I.M.” which he shared with Baron Zemo (who I reviewed back when he was new).  It certainly fits him better than it did Zemo.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  At the time of his release, the A.I.M. Soldier was an all-new sculpt, but most of the body was re-used for last year’s Ghost Rider. He has a different head, obviously, depicting the signature “beekeeper’s mask,” as well as different forearms, and a unique belt.  The overall appearance is that of the classic A.I.M. design.  There are some slight discrepancies on the front of the chest and the specifics of the gloves, due to this body being preemptively designed to work for the comic version of Star-Lord released just a few months after this figure.  The discrepancies aren’t anything incredibly distracting, and there have been enough slight variations to the A.I.M. design that it doesn’t immediately jump out as being “wrong.”  Plus, it’s just an A.I.M. Soldier.  How important is it for them to be spot on?  The figure also gets an add-on piece for his bandolier, which gives him some nice extra details (and also covers up some of those inaccuracies on the torso).  In terms of paint, the A.I.M. Soldier is decent enough.  He manages use lots of yellow without looking totally ridiculous (he’s still ridiculous, but not totally ridiculous), and most of the application is pretty clean.  There’s a slight matching issue with the yellow at the bottom of the belt piece, but that’s really it.  The A.I.M. Soldier included two blasters, one large and one small, as well as right arm of the Mandroid (the same piece included with Zemo).

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Mandroid Series was back when Hasbro was  still working out some of their distribution issues, and also still learning some hard lessons about case-packouts.  While I got all of the necessary pieces for the Mandroid, I never had any luck finding the two swap figures.  While I was out for my birthday last year, I found this guy at 2nd Chance Toyz.  He was loose, but I already had the BAF piece, so no big deal there.  I’m glad to finally have him, and I feel he was worth the wait.  Now, I’ll take my Hellfire Club Guard whenever you’re ready, Hasbro.

#1192: Superman Red

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

SUPERMAN RED

JLA (KENNER)

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A ways back, almost 600 reviews ago now, I tackled the wonderfully ‘90s concept of the electrically powered Superman Blue, DC’s second bid at re-inventing Superman in that particular decade.  Not long after that, I also tackled Superman Red, who was the end result of Superman Blue getting split into two different entities.  The whole thing was ultimately pretty short-lived, but it was timed just perfectly enough that both versions were still the official status quo take on Superman when Kenner launched their JLA line in the ‘90s, thus placing them in the line instead of the more conventional take on the character, and giving us the first of a handful of figures based on the designs.  Today, I’ll be looking at the hot-headed Superman Red!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

supermanredjla2Both Superman Blue and Red were released in the first series of single-carded JLA figures.  However, while Blue was also available in the first boxed set of figures, Red was exclusive to the singles (and is the only figure from Series 1 to be so).  The figure stands about 5 inches tall and has the standard 5 points of articulation for the time.  JLA was largely a way for Kenner to reuse their old Total Justice molds another time (though later assortments would steadily add more and more unique pieces to get a few more characters not released in Total Justice), so it’s not really a surprise that Superman Red was a total re-use.  That being said, he was certainly a more uneventful re-use than some of the other figures.  Most of the first series were just simple repaints of their TJ counterparts, but since Superman’s design had changed more than a little, they had to Frankenstein him a bit to get as close as possible.  He (along with Superman Blue and the evil Hardlight Superman from the second boxed set) uses the torso, arms, and legs of the Total Justice Superman, with the head from Man of Steel’s Hunter Prey Superman (the one packed with Doomsday).  The result is close enough…if you squint.  The body still has the belt, shorts, and boots of the original figure, just painted over as if they aren’t there, which is certainly odd, but not too horribly distracting.  What is distracting is the head’s painting over the clearly defined edges of the head gear, giving him these obvious lines running down his cheeks and across his forehead. Sure, the paint application’s clean for what it is, but what it is is a flagrant disregarding of the actual sculpted material.  On the plus side, he’s a nice, bright red, which means he really pops on the shelf.  So, that sorta makes up for it, right?  JLA figures were usually pretty light on the accessories, but Superman, like the rest of them, includes a display stand.  It’s even in red.   There’s also a cover on the back of his box which can be cut out and placed on the back of his stand.  It’s JLA #7, which is kind of an odd choice, since not only is Superman Red not on the cover, he’s not in the issue.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was never much of a fan of Superman Red or Blue growing up.  It was sort of a weird period of time, and all the Superman merchandise was one of these two, and it felt wrong to me.  So, I didn’t have this figure or his blue counterpart (I did have the Hardlight one, though), and instead waited for the proper classic Superman later on in the line.  As time as gone by, I’ve gotten lots of classic Supermen, and now I have this weird nostalgic twinge for these designs.  I found this guy in the bargain bin at this nearby comics and games store called Player’s Choice, and he called to me.  He’s sort of a goofy figure, but it was a goofy concept to begin with.

#1191: Ripley & Newt

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

RIPLEY & NEWT

ALIENS (NECA)

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Here we are at the finish line for the 2016 post-Christmas reviews.  I’m ending things the way I finished them: Aliens!  It’s hardly the Christmas season without a good helping of Aliens merch!

NECA’s a company generally known for doing the “impossible” when it comes to action figure licenses.  When they started off their Aliens line, Hicks, Hudson, and Bishop were the only guaranteed likenesses, and Ripley was most definitely not on the table.  That is, until she was.  But NECA swore up and down there was no way we were getting a Newt figure.  Not only was the likeness not available, but her unique sculpt would make her less than realistic for the line.  No way she was happening.  Until she did.  Yep, during last year’s big Alien Day celebration NECA and actress Carrie Henn unveiled the Newt figure.  She was set for a SDCC release, which made some collectors a bit worried, but NECA assured fans that everyone who wanted a Newt would get one.  They finally made good on that promise, albeit in a slightly roundabout way.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Ripley and Newt were released as part of the “Rescuing Newt” two-pack, which is sort of the last major hurrah of the Aliens anniversary product.  It was originally supposed to hit in November, but was pushed back until right before Christmas.

RIPLEY

ripleynewtneca2While clearly not the main focus of this set, NECA used this as an opportunity to get the Aliens Ripley out there one more time, for fans who missed her Series 5 release.  However, for those of us that have been faithfully following the line, they made her different enough to not feel like a total repeat.  The first figure depicts Ripley towards the beginning of her journey into the hive, and this one depicts her closer to the end.  I’ve looked at about 90% of this figure twice before; she shares everything below the neck with both the Series 5 Ripley and the TRU-exclusive Kenner Ripley.  I loved the sculpt the first time, and I loved it the second time, and I still love it the third time.  NECA really nailed the details for this look, and I can hardly blame them for wanting to get as much milage out of these pieces as possible.  But enough about the old, what about the new?  Well, Ripley gets a unique head sculpt, which reflects her more dilapidated appearance late in the film.  The hair’s a lot more pressed to her head, the eyes more tired, and the mouth ever so slightly open, showing she’s catching her breath after kicking all that Xeno butt.  I gotta say, I was a little underwhelmed by the sculpt when I saw it in the package, but after taking it out and looking at it from a few different angles, I’e warmed up to it.  The Series 5 version is still my preferred look, and has the better overall Weaver likeness, but this one’s a solid runner up, and, if nothing else, fixes the minor issue of the neck looking a bit underscaled on the last two uses of this body.   As similar as the two may look, the paint work on this figure is also a bit of a change from her Series 5 counterpart.  ripleynewtneca4The basics are all pretty much the same, but the stains on her clothes have definitely intensified from the last figure.  In particular, I think the sweat stains on the shirt look a bit more realistic this time around, which now that I’ve typed it out seems like a very strange compliment to pay something, but there it is.  My one complaint about the figure is something I feel certain is confined to my figure: they pupils are off center from each other, which makes her look a bit cockeyed from certain angles.  It’s not the worst thing ever but you can see it a bit in the shots here.  This Ripley includes the same flamethrower/pulse rifle combo from the first figure, but this time she also includes a nifty flame effect attachment, which is a nice touch that could have very easily been overlooked (it’s also compatible with Frost and Windrix’s flamethrowers as well, which makes it extra fun).

NEWT

ripleynewtneca3Let’s be honest, nobody was really buying this set for the Ripley figure (okay, that’s probably not true….)  The real star here is Rebecca “Newt” Jorden.  The set’s named after her and everything. This figure is a pretty straight re-release of the SDCC version (which is exactly what we were all expecting and what most people wanted).  Of course, I never got the SDCC version, so she’s all-new to me.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and has 26 points of articulation.  Her sculpt is a pretty solid one.  The face sports a strong Carrie Henn likeness, and the hair’s pretty not-terrible, which is quite a compliment when it comes to long, sculpted hair.  The body feels a touch too lanky to me, but it’s not like it’s really far off, just ever so slightly.  The incredible level of detail seen on the clothes more than makes up for it.  Everything’s got texture on this figure, and it really looks like she’s the character from the movie.  The only slight inaccuracy I noticed is that the tear on the right shoulder of her shirt isn’t quite as large as it is in the movie, and let’s be honest, that’s reaching pretty far.  One area where things could maybe be just a little bit better is Newt’s paint.  It’s far from bad, but there are a few sloppy spots, especially on the transitions from skin to clothing on the knees and wrists.  Her shoes are also not really symmetrical, with a lot of the paint on ripleynewtneca6her left foot missing sculpted lines almost completely.  Of course, each foot is about half an inch in size, so it’s not like it’s the end of the world.  Apart from those issues, the work is generally pretty good, and she’s at the very least on par with Series 1-3 of the line, so she’s not going to stick out or anything.  The SDCC version of Newt included her doll Cassie’s head, Hick’s helmet (which she’s seen wearing in one scene), a flashlight (just like the one included with Bishop), and her citizenship award that the Marines get her name from.  For this figure, everything but Cassie was cut.  While the other extras were certainly cool, Cassie’s really the only essential accessory for Newt, and this way, those that spent extra money on the SDCC version still get a few unique items.  I mean, it’s gonna eat at me from now until the end of time that I’m missing those three pieces, but such is my life.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had originally hoped to be able to get the SDCC version of Newt after the con, as NECA usually finds a few ways of distributing their exclusives, but for a number of reasons, they were unable to do that this year.  This was sort of freaky, because there was something of a delay between the SDCC figure hitting and NECA confirming exactly how they were planning on getting more Newt figures out there, and I almost caved and bought a marked up Newt more than once.  Fortunately, they finally announced this two-pack, and I was able to breathe a sigh of relief.  This set ended up being a Christmas present from my parents.  It didn’t actually arrive in time for Christmas morning, but it made it just a few days later, which gave me one last little burst of present opening.  Yay!  This is a pretty great way of not only getting Newt to retail, but also offering up another chance for people to get Ripley.  Both figures are strong additions to the line, and I’m beyond thrilled to add Newt to my collection (and, as an added bonus, now I’ve got an extra Ripley to pilot the Power Loader!)

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#1190: Daredevil & Punisher

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

DAREDEVIL & PUNISHER

MARVEL MINIMATES

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Today marks the penultimate post-Christmas review for 2016.  This review is more or less a continuation of yesterday’s.  I’ll be looking at the remaining Marvel Minimates based on Netflix’s Daredevil series.  Yesterday’s set was heavy on the civilian looks, but this set turns things around, giving us Daredevil’s official, more superhero-y costume, as well as his fellow Hell’s Kitchen vigilante, Frank Castle, aka the Punisher!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

DD and Punisher were released as an exclusive two-pack at SDCC 2016.  They served as a way of hyping up the rest of the Netflix-based sets, as well as tying into the recently released second season of Daredevil.  The set was supposed to get a wider release following the, but some issues with misplaced product in one of Diamond’s warehouses meant that a good chunk of the sets didn’t arrive until almost the end of 2016.

DAREDEVIL

ddpunisher2After spending 13 episodes in Season 1 sporting the all-black number seen yesterday, the final battle of the season finally gave DD his more familiar red getup.  This figure isn’t *quite* that version, but is instead based on his look from the back 3/4 of Season 2, after a stray bullet from the Punisher cracks his original helmet and he has to get a replacement.  The differences are negligible, really, but it’s still important to note.  The figure uses the standard ‘mate body, and as such stands about 2 1/4 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  He’s got add-ons for his mask and thigh holster.  The holster is the same piece seen on yesterday’s Season 1 DD (though flipped to the other leg, as it was in the show), but the mask is all-new to this particular figure.  It’s a decent enough translation of his second mask, though the forehead section seems a little too tall.  It’s a minor enough issue not to really bug me.  His paintwork is far more complex than any of yesterday’s ‘mates, and does a pretty solid job of capturing the suit seen in the show.  The colors are a good match, and all of the line work is nice and sharp.  Under the mask, there’s another Matt Murdock face, this time a bit more intense than either of the two in yesterday’s set.  It’s perfectly fine (the stubble in particular is very impressive), but something about this particular expression messes with the likeness a bit; I’m not seeing much of Charlie Cox in there.  DD is packed with his billy club (the same pieces as the eskrima sticks, but in red this time), an extra hairpiece for an unmasked look, and a clear display stand.

PUNISHER

ddpunisher3Frank Castle serves as the antagonist for the first several episodes of Daredevil’s second season, before becoming something of a dueling protagonist as the season progresses.  Season 2 was admittedly a slight step down from the show’s first season, but Jon Bernthal’s turn as the Punisher was easily the high point of the season, and this is coming from a guy who’s never really liked the Punisher.  His presence as the second half of this pack is far from surprising.  Frank spends most of the season in rather normal clothes, but does finally dawn a pretty straight forward Punisher costume during the second season finale.  It’s only on-screen for a few minutes, but it’s a pretty distinctive look.  Punisher uses add-ons for his hair and  coat.  The hair is a new piece, specifically designed to replicate his close-cropped style.  It does alright in that respect, though I feel like something more along the lines of the Red Hulk hairpiece might have done the job a bit better.  The coat is the long coat piece first introduced way back in 2007 on the very first Doc Brown, and it’s a nice, basic piece, which does its job pretty well.  Punisher’s paintwork is more on par with the Season 1 set than DD, being mostly a lot of black.  That being said, there’s a lot of really great detail work on the front of the torso and the belt.  He also has a pretty good likeness of Jon Bernthal, and the detailing on his hair even continues under the hair piece, allowing for him to be displayed with his closer cropped ‘do from earlier in the season (even if he’s not wearing the right jacket and shirt).  In terms of accessories, Frank is packed with a spare set of arms with rolled up sleeves, a machine gun, two handguns, and a clear display stand.  I wouldn’t have minded getting the larger rifle he uses during the final battle with the hand, or even the mini gun he was seen carrying at the very end of the finale, but I guess this assortment works alright too.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since I didn’t attend SDCC, I couldn’t pick up this set in person.  I also missed out on the initial supplies that hit online, so I ended up having to play the waiting game.  Ultimately, they were a Christmas present from my parents (who have been supplying me with pretty much all of my Minimates as of late).  This is a great counterpart to yesterday’s set, and gives me another two of my favorite characters from one of my favorite shows!

#1189: Daredevil Season 1

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

MATT MURDOCK, FOGGY NELSON, WILSON FISK, & CLAIRE TEMPLE

MARVEL MINIMATES

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For day 22 of my post-Christmas reviews, I’m heading back over to the world of Marvel Minimates.  Said Minimates are my first venture into the merchandising for Marvel’s widely successful Netflix shows.  The first (and in my opinion, the best) of those shows is based on Marvel’s resident Man Without Fear, Daredevil.  His show’s success took a lot of people by surprise, especially merchandisers, including DST, who had no plans for any Minimates from the show until well after it started streaming.  Fortunately, they picked up the license for the Netflix stuff last year, and have gotten to work offering some boxed sets, each based on one season of one of the shows.  Up first were Daredevil and Jessica Jones, the former of which I’ll be looking at today.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Matt, Foggy, Fisk, and Claire are all based on their Season 1 appearances on Daredevil. The set was released in November of last year.

MATT MURDOCK

ddseasonone3Up first, the show’s titular character.  Of course, the box only refers to him by his real identity of Matt Murdock.  It’s fitting, since this is his Season 1 prototype costume, and he hadn’t yet fully embraced the name until a ways into the season.  The costume is a departure from the usual red togs from the comics (or even his red and yellow first appearance costume, of which I am a huge fan), but it’s not without its roots in DD history, being inspired by both his prototype costume from Frank Miller’s Man Without Fear and his costume from his first live-action appearance in “The Trial of the Incredible Hulk” back in the ‘80s.  Matt is built on the usual Minimate body, with add-ons for his mask, belt, and leg holster.  All three add-on pieces are reused, with the mask coming from Iron Fist, the belt being a standard piece, and the holster being introduced with the Series 43 Daredevil.  All of the parts are good fits for his ddseasonone2on-screen design, and the costume translates to Minimate form exceptionally well.  While the paintwork is mostly just flat back, he does have a fully detailed torso, with subtle highlighting to show off his musculature, as well as the tiny bit of red piping on the shoulders.  Under the mask, there’s also a fully detailed Matt Murdock face, with a pretty solid likeness of Charlie Cox.  For his base look, DD includes his wooden eskrima sticks, given to him by…Stick, as well as the usual clear display stand.  He also includes a spare head, hair, torso, tie, suit jacket, hands, and walking stick, allowing you to turn him into a civilian version of Matt.  Supply your own arms and legs, and you’ve got yourself a whole second figure!

FOGGY NELSON

ddseasonone5Matt’s nothing without his law partner Franklin P. Nelson, better known as Foggy.  Foggy’s a pretty major part of Season 1 and the DD mythos as a whole, so his presence here isn’t a huge surprise. The ‘mate’s really just another guy in a suit, but that’s true to the character, so you can hardly blame DST there.  Foggy uses the same basic pieces as Matt’s alt look, as well as the hair from Series 39’s Thor, which is actually a better fit for Foggy than it was for Thor, if I’m honest.  The pieces add up to a decent enough Foggy, so that’s good.  Foggy’s paintwork is once again pretty basic, but the colors are rather unique, and everything is pretty cleanly done.  He’s packed with a briefcase and a tan messenger bag, as well as a clear display stand.  It might have been nice to get some extra shirt sleeves for him, since the pink is rather unique, but it’s not like he comes with nothing.

WILSON FISK

ddseasonone4Season 1 is as much an origin story for Wilson Fisk (better known in the comics as the Kingpin) as it is for Daredevil.  He’s the main antagonist for the whole season, and it would be silly to leave him out.  That being said…he’s really just another guy in a suit.  An important guy in a suit, but still.  He uses two add-ons: his coat/shirt and a waist riser piece to make him a bit taller.  He’s still lacks some of his show counterpart’s intimidation factor, but there’s only so much you can do, right?  The coat is re-used from 24’s Tony Almeida, and its a good fit for the types of suits he wore on the show.  Paint’s once again a lot of black, but he has a slight splash of dark blue for the shirt, as well as a pretty decent likeness of Vincent D’Onofrio as Fisk.  Fisk includes a clear display stand, and that’s it.

CLAIRE TEMPLE

ddseasonone6Effectively the Coulson of the Netflix shows (being the connective tissue that holds them all together), Claire Temple started out in the comics as a Luke Cage supporting character, which made her turning up in the first season of DD a slight surprise.  Her being in this set of Minimates is also a *slight* surprise, since there are a number of characters more prominent than her in the first season (Karen was held back for the Season 2 set, which is fine, but Ben’s another pivotal character still missing.  Of course, he would have been another guy in a suit, so…).  Of course, releasing her here frees up some space in the other sets, so I guess that’s good.  She’s seen here in her “Night Nurse” garb that she’s wearing when she and Matt interrogate a thug on the rooftop.  It’s probably the most visually interesting of her looks, so it’s a good choice.  In her basic layout, she has Lady Sif’s hair, which is a reasonably close match to Rosario Dawson’s hair in the show, and Amy’s hoody.  Her paintwork is a bit more exciting than the others, with like five whole colors.  The application’s all pretty clean, which is always good.  The likeness on the face is a passable Dawson likeness.  It’s maybe sits a tad too high on the headblock, but that’s my only real complaint.  She includes a knife and a clear display stand, as well as a pulled up hood, and an extra head and hands, so as to complete her disguised look from when she was interrogating the guy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This set was another Christmas present from my parents.  It’s a set I’ve been patiently waiting for, since I really loved DD Season 1.  I know I ragged on this set a bit for being guys in suits, but that’s more because guys in suits aren’t the most exciting things to review.  The actual figures are really a lot of fun, and this set is really worth it just for DD alone.  That guy’s definitely one of my new favorite ‘mates!

#1188: Lando Calrissian

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

LANDO CALRISSIAN

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

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For Day 22 of my post-Christmas reviews, I’ll be taking a look at the last of the Star Wars-themed figures I got this year, before once again returning to the world of Marvel (spoilers for tomorrow’s review?)  Today, I’ll be looking at everyone’s favorite suave scoundrel.  No, it’s not Han Solo, why do you ask?  Okay, so it’s everyone’s *second* favorite suave scoundrel, Lando Calrissian!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

landogen2Lando was released as part of Series 5 of Walmart’s exclusive smaller-scale Star Wars: The Black Series line, the same assortment that brought us Wednesday’s Admiral Ackbar figure (along with Ahsoka Tano and a Royal Guard).  Like Ackbar, Lando is a re-release of an earlier Vintage Collection figure.  Also like Ackbar, I don’t have the earlier figure, so this one is new for me.  The figure stands just shy of 4 inches tall and has 24 points of articulation.  The Vintage Collection was where Hasbro finally started adding in some additional hip movement for some of the figures.  Lando was from later in the line, when they started adding it to non-Jedi/Trooper characters.  At this point the movement was still rather primitive when compared to lots of other small-scale lines like this, but progress is progress.  The sculpt is generally pretty decent.  He’s based on Lando’s General look from Return of the Jedi, which isn’t my go-to Lando look, but it’s a decent enough choice.  The uniform is pretty solid and matches up with the onscreen costume.  The holster is a separate, removable piece, which is actually pretty convenient, since it had a tendency to switch shoulder from shot to shot.  The head sports a passable Billy Dee Williams likeness.  It’s hardly perfect, but it’s about as close as any other likeness this line’s ever given us.  The cape is cloth, and that’s probably the one major detractor about this figure.  It’s not awful; the actual cape bit is decent enough, but the clasp, which is rather thin in the film, is replaced here by a rather thick spandex band.  It’s totally inaccurate and ends up covering a good portion of the rather nicely sculpted collar.  Lando sports some pretty decent paintwork.  Nothing particularly spectacular, or super exciting, but the application is quite clean, continuing the upward trend from Hasbro as of late.  Lando includes a small blaster pistol, which can be placed in the holster.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Just like Admiral Ackbar, Lando was a Christmas present from my Super Awesome Girlfriend, though there’s no special reason behind me getting this guy (aside from an offhand confirmation of “yeah, I like Lando”).  While this isn’t my first choice of costume, this is otherwise a pretty solid figure, and I’m glad to add him to my collection!

#1187: Mandroid & Blizzard

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

MANDROID & BLIZZARD — DONNIE GILL

MARVEL MINIMATES

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Today, I’m making my way into the final five of the 2016 post-Christmas reviews, and wrapping up the last of my Marvel Minimates Series 69 reviews in one fell swoop.  I’ll be taking a look at the series’ resident army builder (boy has it been a little while since we’ve gotten one of these guys, especially a comic-based one) the Mandroid, as well as Iron Man baddie Blizzard!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

There are two Mandroid/Blizzard sets in Series 69.  The one seen here has the more heavily packed Donnie Gill version of Blizzard, but there’s also a variant set featuring Donnie’s predecessor Gregor Shapanka, which is packed one-per-case.

MANDROID

mandroidblizzard2The Mandroid is a ‘mate that’s been a long time coming.  It was first shown off as one of the potential choices during the big Series 50 fan-poll back in 2012, but was beaten by the Nova Corpsman.  We’ve actually seen a good chunk of the losing characters from that poll in the last five years, but the Mandroid is the first of the losing army builders to make it plastic form (I’m still pulling for classic Multiple Man), so good for it!  The figure stands about 3 inches tall when fully armored up, and sports 11 of the 14 usual points of articulation.  The Mandroid depicted here is more or less the classic version of the armor.  It’s a little bit more kibble-y than usual, but the armor tended to vary from appearance to appearance, so this sort of aims to capture the essential elements.  Amazingly enough, the Mandroid has been constructed entirely out of re-used pieces.  He’s got the helmet/chest of Nemesis, the hands of Iron Monger, and the upper arms, upper legs and feet of the Age of Ultron Hulkbuster.  Despite the pieces being from a span of  nine years, the actually mesh together pretty well and make for a pretty solid take on the Mandroid armor.  In terms of paint, the Mandroid is a whole lot of gold.  It’s a nicer gold than some of the earlier ‘mates to use the color, and hopefully this one won’t wear off like some of those.  Also, there’s actually more than one gold present here, which keeps things from getting too boring.  Remove the armor, and there’s a fully detailed figure underneath, showcasing the SHIELD Agent piloting the suit. But it’s not just any SHIELD Agent!  DST Rep Zach Oat confirmed at NYCC that this is none other than Agent Phil Coulson, making his third appearance as a ‘mate.  We had yet to receive a comic version of Phil, so it’s cool that they threw him in there.  The Mandroid is packed with an extra gun hand (taken from Alpha Flight’s Box), plus and extra hair piece, flesh colored hands, and grey feet to turn him into Coulson.  He also gets the usual clear display stand, but the coolest extra by far (for me, anyway) is the coffee mug with the SHIELD logo on it.  This was first shown on Jasper Sitwell’s control art, but ultimately cut.  It’s great to see DST finally got it out!

BLIZZARD

mandroidblizzard3You know how I said it’s been a while since we’d gotten a proper comic army builder?  Well, it’s been way longer since we got any Iron Man foes.  The last comic Iron Man villains we got were back in Series 36, almost 7 years ago.  Fortunately, Blizzard’s one of his cooler looking (heh) foes, and makes up for some of the lost time.  Here’s hoping more foes will follow!  Blizzard is a classic vanilla ‘mate, which makes sense, since his costume’s never really been anything but a basic spandex suit.  As such, this figure is really carried by the paint.  Fortunately, the paintwork is pretty solid.  The white and blue contrast nicely with each other, and the detail lines are all pretty sharply defined.  Sometimes, there’s a bit of bleed through under light colored paints, but not on Blizzard, showing that they actually took the time to apply the proper number of coats!  Yay for learning!  Blizzard includes a number of ice effect pieces, including an ice blast and ice sled (both borrowed from Series 59’s Iceman), as well as an ice fist (one of the Thing’s fists, remolded in clear plastic; it works surprisingly well).  The ice fist I got is a right hand, but DST actually produced both right and left and packed in one at random, so if you get two Blizzards and are particularly lucky, you can give him some ice-y boxing gloves!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like the last two days of sets, this pair was a Christmas present from my parents.  I didn’t think much of this set when the series was initially announced (I was a bit distracted by the other sets), but I’ve always kinda liked Blizzard, and the Mandroid is an essential piece of any SHIELD display.  Both of these ‘mates could have been rather dull, but the execution makes them both really fun to play with, and the accessories really give them both that extra punch.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0001: Night Hunter Batman

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

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Hey everyone!  Back in October, I made mention of finding a bunch of missing figure accessories and doing a bunch of photo reshoots and how that would mean the occasional addendum here and there in order to make older reviews as complete as possible.  Well, I’m finally getting off my butt and actually doing something with it.  Every Friday from now until I run out of updates, I’ll be linking to an old post, updating the images contained therein, and adding a few new comments about the figure or my review.  Without further ado, I present my first Flashback Friday Figure Addendum!

For today’s FFFA, I’m going back to my very first review of my very first action figure, Night Hunter Batman!

“The first post in my humble little blog is a review of the very first (well, technically second, but I’ll get to that in a minute) action figure in my not-so-small collection.  Yep, this is the one that started it all, and 2400 figures later, he does seem to be a bit of an odd choice.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Night Hunter Batman is a Batman variant from the tie-in line to 1995’s Batman Forever.  He’s black with some bright yellow accents, the obvious choice for creatures of the night.  He once had a cape with a pretty nifty windswept look to it, but I’ve long since lost it.  He also used to have an actual bat symbol on his chest, but if I recall correctly, he lost that fairly shortly after I acquired him.  I feel the true highlight (aside from the actual yellow HIGHLIGHTS) of the figure is the pop-up goggle feature.  There’s a button on his back that, when pushed, extends and rotates the goggles in front of old Bruce’s eyes.  You know, for detective-stuff.  Or going by the name of the figure, hunting stuff.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Why, of all the action figures out there, was this my very first action figure?  I honestly can’t say.  I know I liked Batman, though I watched the TV series and in fact didn’t see Batman Forever until I was almost 20.  Maybe I liked the colors.  Most likely, it was the goggles.  I like goggles, and the whole focus of this little guy was those really neat goggles he had.

Remember when I pointed out above that this was technically my second action figure?  Yeah, funny story:  this particular Night Hunter Batman is a replacement for the first Night Hunter Batman, that by all accounts I gave to a girl at a restaurant.  Yes, even at 3, I was quite the charmer.  So, my parents drove me over to Toys R Us (Side-Note: Remember when Toys R Us didn’t suck?  I miss those days…) and purchased me this lovely replacement (EDIT: I stand corrected.  It wasn’t Toys R Us, it was Service Merchandise.  Man, there’s a blast from the past!) .  While there, my dad happened to wander down the aisle and find the Iron Man animated series toys, leading him to a) start his own collection up again b)introduce me to the wonders of Marvel Comics and c) even more directly lead me to my current state of being.  And it’s all because I was trying to impress a girl!  Silly girls!”

Wow, that was surprisingly brief, and left out a lot of the details I would now consider “standard.” It’s so quaint! 

It’s worth noting that Night Hunter Batman is about 5 inches tall and has 5 points of articulation.  Also worth noting are his accessories, missing from the original review.  He had a removable cape, which has a nice windswept look to it, as well as this big…shield thing.  I don’t know.  It’s shaped like a bat. Sorta.  It’s a little hard to get him to hold it properly, and I’m not sure what purpose it would serve whist one hunts…at night…but it’s an entertaining enough piece.  There were also these claw attachments, which hooked onto those two bottom rungs of the shield, but those I truly have lost.

Since writing this review, discussing with my dad about why this was my first Batman, it came up that this was apparently the closest we could come to a standard Batman figure when I went to pick one out.  It would appear this guy got to be number one by sheer luck.  Good for him!