#0610: Ripley

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

RIPLEY – JUMPSUIT

ALIENS (NECA)

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As faithful readers of the site know, it’s no secret that my favorite movie of all time is Aliens. So, it’s probably not a huge shock to find out that I’m rather fond of Alien, the film Aliens sequel-izes, as well. Granted, I don’t view it with nearly as much reverence as its sequel, but I appreciate it for what it spawned, and I think it’s a tremendously well assembled film. When NECA made their announcement that they had managed to acquire Sigourney Weaver’s likeness rights, they quickly followed up by confirming that the first Ripley figure in their Aliens line would be based on her debut appearance in Alien. Now, that figure is finally here, and I’m really excited to see how it turned out.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

RipleyJS2Ripley was released as part of Series 4 of NECA’s Aliens line. Series 4 is the first series in the line not to feature any figures from Aliens, as well as the first series not to feature any of the titular creatures. There’s no need to fret, though, because a) Series 5 will be making up for both of those things, and b) Series 4 suffers in no way for the lack of either of these things. NECA has taken advantage of Alien’s 35th anniversary, and has offered three figures based on that film’s designs. This particular Ripley represents her in her main jumpsuited look, which she sports for most of her screen time. The figure stands just shy of 7 ½ inches tall and has 26 points of articulation. It’s refreshing to see a female figure that isn’t dwarfed by her male counterparts (in fact, she’s taller than Bishop, and the same height as Hicks), and it makes this an accurate depiction of Ripley as portrayed by the 6 foot tall Sigourney Weaver. Ripley has a brand-new sculpt (in fact, she’s the only figure in this series to get one) and, simply put, it’s phenomenal. She has great proportions, tons of detail, and the articulation is very nicely worked into the sculpt. When NECA did Bishop in the last series, I had a few issues with overlay piece used for the torso part of the jumpsuit. I was somewhat concerned about those issues cropping up here. Fortunately, NECA has made sure they didn’t, and have tweaked the overlay part to be two pieces, allowing for a more form fitting look and avoiding the slight diaper-like appearance of Bishop’s waist. The overlay allows for a bit more dimension, and they’ve done a wonderful job of sculpting the collar of her uniform shirt so that it just barely shows RipleyJS4under the jumpsuit. Now, we all know that NECA can do an awesome job on the body, but the real pull here is that, for the first time ever, we got a Ripley that’s actually allowed to look like Sigourney Weaver! So, how’d they do? If I’m totally honest, when I first saw the sculpt, I was a little underwhelmed. Sure, it bore a resemblance to Weaver, but it seemed off. After taking the figure out and viewing the sculpt in three dimensions, my opinion’s changed greatly. This is definitely Sigourney Weaver. At least the face is, anyway. The hair, I’m not 100% sold on, though I’d chalk that up to the impossibility of perfectly replicating something so fluid in a solid medium. Also, this may seem like a weird thing to comment on, but I’m really impressed by the hands. Like, I looked at them and immediately thought “wow, those are Sigourney Weaver’s hands.” It’s something that’s really minor and easy to overlook, but it really adds a lot to the figure. Ripley’s paintwork is, while not flawless, pretty darn good. Application is nice and clean, and there’s some great detail work on the patches on her jumpsuit. The face is pretty decent for the scale and the price point, but the edges on the eyes are just a little off, and there’s a little scratch on her nose. Nothing too major, though. She does seem a little on the clean side, but it’s fair to say she’s supposed to be from earlier in the film, and would therefore be a little less messy. Ripley includes two accessories: a flamethrower and Jonesy the cat. Both pieces are excellent additions to the figure. The flamethrower is superbly sculpted and painted and fits quite nicely in her hands. Jonesy is pretty decently sculpted and features ball joints at the neck and tail, allowing for some decent movement.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been patiently waiting for this figure’s release ever since it was announced. I picked her up, along with the other two figures in the series, from Big Bad Toy Store, as soon as they got her in stock. This figure is fantastic. It does a wonderful job of translating the character from the film to three dimensions and gives us our first shot at a character that the line couldn’t be complete without. Sure, it’s not the version from Aliens that I’ve been oh so anxiously waiting for, but it’s more than enough to hold me over until that figure comes along. NECA has done a tremendous job with this figure, and they’ve set the bar pretty high for the Aliens version in Series 5. Here’s hoping that one’s just as good!

*Ripley also has the added notoriety of being the 3000th unique figure to be added to my collection!  That’s a big number!

RipleyJS5

#0609: Jarknoid Zain

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

JARKNOID ZAIN

ASSEMBLE BORG (REVOLTECH)

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“What the hell is a Jarknoid?

 –Tim Marron

When Mego imported Microman as Micronauts, they started off with a selection of figures that were more or less the same as their Japanese counterparts. However, as the line moved forward, Mego decided to add a few of their own touches. The Japanese line had relied on the Acroyear as the foes of the heroic Micromen, and Micronauts had started much the same way. Mego decided that the ‘nauts needed a more diverse selection of foes, and created their own set of unique foes, under the heading “Aliens.” These Aliens became some of the more distinctive Micronauts, and are the primary point of separation of the two lines.

Assemble Borg, is no doubt inspired by Microman. In fact, one of Borg’s main designers originally worked on Microman. What’s interesting to me, though, is that Assemble Borg’s main set of villains, the Jarknoids, actually seem to have more in common with Mego’s line than they do the line it was based on. That kind of makes Assemble Borg the closest thing Micronauts has to a successor. And that’s actually pretty cool. So, let’s take a look at one of those freaky Jarknoids, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Zain2Jarknoid Zain is entry 008 in the Assemble Borg line. Numerically, he was the last of the trio of Jarknoid villains, released as a direct follow-up to the original heroic Assemble Borg figures.  Each of the Jarknoid’s was given their own epithet, and Zain’s was “Astro-Killer,” which is simple, but rather effective in establishing the character, I guess. Like Panzer, Zain predates the line’s changeover to the more modular “Nexus” style, meaning he’s a more traditional style of action figure, but the customizability is still a present feature. The figure is about 6 inches in height and has 42 points of articulation.  Zain is built on what was the standard Assemble Borg body. We’ve seen some of this before, as Panzer made use of the same torso, pelvis, and thighs. The sculpt is definitely on the more basic side, but it offers a nice sleekness, which offers a nice contrast to the more intricate character specific pieces. Speaking of character Zain3specific pieces, holy crap is that head a really impressive piece of work. He’s got a mask that just looks like a giant skeletal hand is just grabbing his face, which is a truly disturbing design. The mask can be removed, revealing a smaller chrome head underneath, which is a fairly neat feature, though I can’t see anyone displaying this in favor of the mask. He’s also got a chrome chest piece, which is really pointy and fit’s with the mask pretty well. In addition to the basic body, each of the Jarknoids included a few character specific parts that could be swapped in place of the normal body parts. Zain gets a cool arm piece, which, depending on how you configure it can either be a big gun arm or a big claw thing. Both are pretty cool, and they have a nice bit of silver detailing to bring out the awesome details. In addition to those parts, the figure includes four sets of hands (fists, open palm, trigger finger, and Zain4pointing/splayed), a sword, an axe, a small gun, a slightly larger small gun, a medium gun, a huge gun, an adaptor to attach the weapons to any revolver connector, an assortment of revolver joints, and a coin worth 10 revolchip points.  I really love the weapons, because they all have some really fantastic spikey detailing that looks pretty awesome. Like the other Assemble Borg figures I’ve looked at, paint is relatively minor on Zain, but I do really love the color of the plastic he’s molded in.

Zain6 Zain7 Zain8

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I tried to ease into this whole Assemble Borg thing. I really did. I picked up Panzer because he was relatively inexpensive, and I thought he would hold me over. Then I got Nexus for free. I wanted Zain, but I was trying to hold off. Then Tim (who still remains at fault for all of this) showed me the Yeeg figure he’d bought (Yeeg’s another of the Jarknoids) and I found myself really wanting one of the villains. So, I ended up getting this guy off of eBay. Zain is a really, really cool figure, and he’s definitely my favorite of the Jarknoids. He’s properly imposing and just a lot of fun to mess with. Man I love this line.

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#0608: MODOK

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

MODOK

IRON MAN (TOYBIZ)

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MODOK! The Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing! That is, unless he’s on a children’s cartoon on Saturday mornings, in which case, he’s the Mental Organism Designed Only for Konquest. You remember how Konquest is spelled with a “K,” right? Hey, it could have been worse; originally he was going to be Mental Organism Designed Only for Kittens. That just doesn’t seem as threatening, does it?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

MODOK2MODOK was released in the second series of ToyBiz’s 90s Iron Man line. The line was released to tie-in with the cartoon of the time, so MODOK is based on his appearance there. Though, to be fair, his look on the show was largely unchanged from his comic appearance, so the figure can easily pull double duty. The figure is about 5 inches tall and he has 6(?) points of articulation. The articulation is a little hard to get an accurate count on; the attachments on the head definitely move, but it’s hard to tell if the arms and legs are actually supposed to move. If they are, they’re quite limited. MODOK has a sculpt that was totally unique to him, and it’s actually pretty great. It captures the character’s design rather nicely, and it has a surprising level of detail for a figure of the time. The face has some nice, deep set wrinkles, making him appropriately grotesque and all of his armored parts have some nice etched in details. While the sculpt may be impressive, the figure’s been saddled with one of the more lackluster paintjobs of the time. It isn’t actually bad, but it’s incredibly basic, with most of the colors just being molded plastic. Plus, the colors are all flat, which doesn’t really showcase the sculpt all that well. A little bit of a metallic finish would go a long way. MODOK included an ID Card with his picture, powers, and a quick little bio (these were included with all the figures in the first two series of the line), as well as a blast piece that works with the figure’s “action feature.” When you press the button on the back of the figure, or squeeze the head, the blast piece gets launched, at least in theory. In reality, the button doesn’t actually work; you can still go with the head squeezing method, though the launch distance is a little…underwhelming.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

MODOK is another one of those figures that I missed out on growing up. I feel like he may have been one of the more difficult figures to find. He ended up being one of the figures I came across in the dealer’s room at this past Balticon. He actually ended up being the most expensive of the figures that I picked up, though he still wasn’t all that pricey. As an adult, I can appreciate this figure, especially for the strength of the sculpt. As a kid, I think I might have found this figure a little bit less exciting. No real articulation and a lackluster action feature don’t do the figure any favors. That said, he’s a decent looking figure and works perfectly fine as a display piece. I guess it really just depends what you look for in a figure.

#0607: Superman – Blue

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

SUPERMAN – BLUE

JLA: CLASSIFIED

SupermanBlue1

The 90s were weird. Like, for everyone. Marvel had their whole shoulder pads and pouches thing going on, which is one of those things we’d all like to forget now. DC was getting in on the weirdness too, and few characters got hit as much as Superman. First he died and got replaced with four “x-treme” takes on the mythos. Then he came back, but he was different and he had a mullet. Then he lost the mullet, but the sun also got blotted out, preventing him access to his solar-based powers. The only logical solution was to convert his powers to electricity. That’s just obvious. Anyway, the result was Superman Blue, a radical departure from the Superman we all knew and loved. He didn’t really stick around for long, but he had a rather distinctive design, which did build up a rather decent fan following, resulting in a few action figures over the years. Let’s take a look at the most recent version!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

SupermanBlue2Superman Blue was released as part of the second series of DC Direct’s JLA: Classified line. All of the figures in the series were based on looks from the 90s, so Superman fit in pretty well. The figure stands roughly 6 ½ inches tall and features 13 points of articulation. Due to the nature of the sculpt and how the articulation was implemented, most of the articulation is ultimately pointless, and the figure’s only real pose is a basic standing one. The JLA: Classified line worked as a companion line to the four assortments of Ed McGuinness-styled Superman/Batman figures produced not long before. So, Superman Blue is presented here in Ed McGuinness’s style, though I’m not sure that McGuinness ever actually drew Superman Blue. Admittedly, it’s a style that works pretty well for the design, so I can’t really complain. Most of the McG-styled figures made use of a lot of the same pieces, and Superman Blue is no exception. He gets a brand new head, but from the neck down he’s a straight re-use of the basic McG body first used for Captain Atom. It’s not a terrible body, but it’s not without its flaws either. It’s definitely well-defined, and in keeping with a lot of McG’s illustrations, but the arms are definitely way too stubby. The head is a pretty decent sculpt; it matches up pretty well with the regular McG Superman, but it’s got a slightly more smug expression, which at the very least adds some variety. The character’s spiky electric hair is quite nicely conveyed, and the head-band-thingy is appropriately sharp and clean. The only real issue is that the head is just a tad too big for the body. The paintwork is alright; the blue and white are appropriately bold, and the figure definitely stands out. However, the application of the white areas is a little uneven, and the elements on the arms and legs which should mirror each other end up not doing so. The figure’s one accessory is a small black display stand with the JLA: Classified logo printed in blue.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Superman Blue was another piece of the large selection of figures I bought on sale from my local comicbook store. He’s not my favorite design of all time, but at $3, I figured he was worth it. The figure is overall pretty decent, and while it’s not perfect, it does add a certain degree of “pop” to the shelf.

#0606: Wilderness Crawler

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

WILDERNESS CRAWLER

ASSEMBLE BORG (REVOLTECH)

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One of the cool things about Assemble Borg (which is totally my new favorite toyline) is that it goes beyond just offering a basic set of figures. Sure, they’re still there and they’re still important to the overall line, but one of the primary focuses is customization and interchangeablity (is that a real word? Spellcheck says no, but I don’t trust these pesky machines) amongst the figures. There are also a number of vehicle sets, which offer a nice variety of extra parts to help spruce up your basic figures. One such set is the Wilderness Crawler, which I’ll be taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

WildCrawler2Wilderness Crawler is set 013 in the Assemble Borg line. The Crawler was part of the “Assault Gear” subset of the line. There were three “vehicles” that each loosely matched up with one of the three “Counter Strike” figures. The Crawler seems to have been designed to accent Ghost Gunner, however, in contrast to the Jackall, these sets are designed to work as standalone pieces in their default setups. The Wilderness Crawler’s descriptor is “All Terrain Assault Tank A.G.A.” What you can probably gather from that (and the WildCrawler5image at the top of this review) is that the Wilderness Crawler’s default setup is that of a tank. In the tank setup, the Crawler is 3 ½ inches long, 2 ½ inches wide, and 2 ¼ inches tall. In this configuration, there is movement at the “neck” and at the turret.  This is essentially what you would expect from a tank, though I will admit to being just a tad disappointed that the treads don’t actually move. The Wilderness Crawler is assembled (heh!) from 18 sculpted parts, in conjunction with an assortment of Revolver joints and connectors. Unlike previous entries from this line, the Wilderness Crawler doesn’t come put together; instead, the pieces are packed disassembled and there is an included instruction sheet showingWildCrawler6 how to configure them into the basic tank setup. Some pieces, such as the main body, the treads, and the head, are clearly sculpted to be specific things, and they convey what they need to pretty well. The “goggle” piece of the head can be removed, which is cool. I do somewhat wish that the main body was made up of a few more parts; it’s just one big chunk as it is, which limits what you can do with it. The rest of the parts are handled in such a wayWildCrawler4 that they can be used for plenty of different applications, allowing the Crawler to have more than a few potential builds. Each piece of the set is sharply detailed, and they all fit together vary nicely from aesthetic standpoint. Color-wise, the Crawler is mostly done in silver and darker metallic greys, but the goggles and “chest piece” both offer a splash of green, which livens the set up quite a bit. In addition to the base pieces used to assemble the tank layout, the Wilderness Crawler also includes a box of Revolver joints, a stand, and a Revolchip worth 10 points.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I continue to maintain that this is Tim’s fault. He ordered himself one of the Jackall sets, prompting me to look into getting one of my own. I ended up finding a seller that had both the Jackall and this set for a fair bit below their usual going rates. I was somewhat intrigued by the “Assault Gear” subset, so I figured I’d give this one a try. The Wilderness Crawler isn’t quite as exciting as the actual figures, and it doesn’t have the direct ties to a particular figure like the Jackall did, so it’s probably the most underwhelming piece I’ve looked at from this line. That said, it’s also the one I paid the least for, which does it some favors, and it’s far from a boring set. Plus, the pieces can easily be configured into a pretty sick robot, which I’m always in support of!

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#0605: The Brood

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

THE BROOD

X-MEN (TOYBIZ)

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For the X-Men, simple terrestrial foes just weren’t enough. No, they had to kick off the extraterrestrial bit, starting fairly early in the series, before the original team had even left, when they faced off against the dastardly Lucifer! The aliens continued to show up with a fair bit of regularity, and in the mid-80s, we were introduced to the Brood. They were a bug-like race of creatures that gestated inside other beings and when they hatched, they would take on certain characteristics of the hosts. Sound familiar? Yeah, they weren’t too far removed from the Xenomorphs seen in Alien and Aliens. Not that it was a bad thing! The Brood have made their way into a few X-themed toylines over the years, with their first plastic appearance being in ToyBiz’s massive X-Men line from the 90s.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Brood2The Brood was released in the fifth series of the X-Men line. The figure is about 3 ½ inches tall and 4 inches in length. It features 8 points of articulation, as well as an action feature that flaps the wings and opens the jaw when you press the button on the figure’s back. The Brood are all fairly similar in design, and this figure was meant to be just a generic Brood. That said, if I recall correctly, the presence of wings denotes this as a Brood Queen. But, I could be wrong on that (EDIT: nevermind. I double checked and it looks like some of the drones were winged too). Given the non-human nature of the character, it’s not much of a surprise that the Brood had an all-new sculpt. Overall, it’s a pretty decent translation of the comic design, or at least their appearances in the 80s. It’s not quite as “buggy” as later figures would be, and it’s somewhat on the simpler side when it comes to texture, but it’s not bad, and it certainly fits in with the rest of the line. The muscles at the top of the front arms seem weirdly over-defined, but hey, it was the 90s. Everything had muscles then! I’m surprised the figure didn’t have shoulder pads and pouches. The Brood’s paint is pretty decently handled. The colors are on the drab side, but that’s accurate to the comics, and everything is pretty cleanly defined, if a little on the basic side. The Brood included no accessories, but what the heck would it even come with?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Brood is another Balticon acquisition. It came from the same dealer as Shatterstar and Magneto, though, this one was actually dug out of bin of $5 loose figures. So, a little more expensive, but honestly it feels worth it. The figure is a pretty solid piece and it holds up rather well even twenty years later.

#0604: Medusa

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

MEDUSA

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOYBIZ)

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The Inhumans. They seem to be Marvel’s new pet project. They served as major players in Agents of SHIELD’s second season, they’ve had a couple of recent events that centered on them, and they’re slated to get their own movie. Rumor has it that Marvel’s hoping to elevate them to a near X-Men-like status. Best of luck to them on that. The Inhumans have been rather obscure for a while, but they’ve shown up a few times in toy form over the years. Let’s have a look at the very first figure of the hair-controlling Medusa, member of the royal family.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Medusa2Medusa was released as part of the fourth series of ToyBiz’s 90s Fantastic Four line. This series was based on the cartoon of the same name, and it was the first (and only) series to be based specifically on the show’s second season. Medusa was a recurring character throughout the season, so her inclusion here is quite sensible. The figure is roughly 5 inches tall and features 10 points of articulation. The articulation is…odd. She has some very nice shoulder movement, but she’s got the v-style hip joints that plagued most of the female figures of the 90s, and she has no neck movement at all. Posing her isn’t the easiest thing. Medusa had a sculpt that was new to her (though it would end up being re-used a few times), and, truth be told, it’s not great. The proportions are all pretty off; the hands and feet are rather large, and the torso feels way too small, especially by comparison. Also, for a character whose whole shtick is hair, hers seems rather lacking in volume. Then there are her legs, which are a) at a weird angle, and b) two different lengths, resulting in a figure that’s rather difficult to stand. At the very least, the figure’s face isn’t terrible, which is a good thing for the time. Paint on the figure, sadly, doesn’t do much to salvage the sculpt. It’s not terrible, but there’s more than one instance of bleed over, the face is kind of sloppy, and the purple paint on the lower arms and legs doesn’t match the molded color of the rest of the body. This particular series’ main gimmick was that each figure included a stand with an action feature of some sort. Medusa included a stand sculpted to resemble her hair. It has a set of wheels on the bottom, and when it’s pushed forward, the “pinwheel” at the top spins. Yay?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Medusa was another Balticon purchase. She was actually packaged when I got her, but still pretty low priced. She’s a figure I’ve seen lots of times before, but never actually gotten around to buying. She’s not exactly the most thrilling figure, which is kind of a shame, since was her only figure for over ten years. Oh well.

#0603: Lex Luthor

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

LEX LUTHOR

SUPERMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (KENNER)

LuthorSTAS1

Batman: The Animated Series is pretty much universally viewed as one of the best interpretations of Batman and his supporting cast ever. It was revolutionary at the time it was released, and, thanks to top notch writing, animating, and acting, it still holds up pretty great after over 20 years. For me, though, the best entry in the DC Animated Universe is the series that followed B:TAS, Superman: The Animated Series. While B:TAS got a pretty decent run of figures at the time of its release, S:TAS wasn’t quite so fortunate. Kenner produced a line of toys to tie-in, but the character selection was somewhat limited, and many of the characters were rather off-model. One of the characters hit the hardest by off-model-ness was Big Blue’s arch enemy Lex Luthor, who is the focus of today’s entry.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

LuthorSTAS2Lex Luthor was released as part of the first series of Kenner’s Superman: The Animated Series tie-in line. He was one of the two non-Superman characters in this particular series. The figure is a little over 5 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation. Dig that waist articulation guys! It’s more than most DC figures had at this point! Now, this figure is sort of based on Luthor’s animated appearance, but, as I noted in the intro, the figure is more than a little bit off-model. To Kenner’s credit, they managed to produce a near-perfect rendition of the animated Luthor’s noggin. It’s really a very good piece. The trouble lies with literally every other piece of the figure. Rather than release him in his signature suit, Luthor is depicted here in a Kryptonite armor suit, which is completely made up for this figure. The “Kryptonite” parts are all snap-on armor pieces, which can be removed to reveal….some sort of exoskeleton thing. It’s a perfectly fine sculpt on a purely technical level, but it looks pretty wonky and the body doesn’t even have proper Bruce Timm-style proportions. I get that a guy in a suit doesn’t make for the most exciting figure. That said, if they were going to do the clip on armor thing, why not put a more conventional suit under the armor? Just seems like a weird choice. Also, the figure seems to have borrowed Total Justice’s guide to posing; his arms and legs are all bent and turned. It’s most annoying on the legs because it makes getting him to stand next to impossible. As far as paint goes, Luthor is pretty reasonably handled. Nothing super thrilling, but everything is applied pretty cleanly. It’s a nice touch that he veers away from the primary colors, helping set him apart from Superman. In addition to the clip on armor, Luthor includes a big freaking missile launcher thing. Hasbro would be so proud.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I never had this figure growing up. I saw him many times over the years, but I just never got one. It’s most certainly due to the weird design of the figure. Why now? Simple, my comicbook store had a table of action figures for $2.99. If you bought five, they were only $2 apiece. So, I bought ten. Luthor was one of them. This actually isn’t a bad figure, just kind of weird.LuthorSTAS3

#0602: Jackall & Jaeger

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

JACKALL & JAEGER

ASSEMBLE BORG (REVOLTECH)

JackalJaeger1

Man, when I find a new line to collect, I sure jump all-in, don’t I? I’m relatively new to this whole Assemble Borg thing, but I really, really enjoy it. And why not? It’s essentially an update to Micronauts and Microman, which are two of my very favorite toylines. Just like those two lines, Assemble Borg‘s focus is on interchangeability. This isn’t just limited to figures, either. While they aren’t the main focus, the Assemble Borg line has more than a few vehicles in its backlog. Today, I’ll be looking at one of those, the Jackall motorcycle.

THE VEHICLE ITSELF

JackalJaeger2The Jackall (and Jaeger) is entry 022 in the Assemble Borg line. It’s the first vehicle since the line re-launched under the “Nexus” heading at number 020. It comes packaged as a rather basic motorcycle (the “Jackall”) with a bunch of extra pieces that can be distributed however you like. Of course, like just about everything else in the line, there’s no real reason you have to leave it in the default set up. The pieces are all designed to potentially work in just about any configuration, and each piece has several standard relolver joint hook-ups. In the basic cycle set-up, the Jackal is about 6 inches long and about 2 ½ inches tall at its highest point. It’s quite well scaled to the basic Assemble Borg figures, which is good. The individual pieces are all very nicely sculpted, with lots of JackalJaeger3cool and interesting little technical details. While Jackall is packaged as its own item, its real purpose is to augment the basic Nexus figure. Clearly, the bike itself is meant to be used with the figure, but many of the additional pieces included are also meant as additional accessories for Nexus. The “& Jaeger” potion of the set is the clearest example of this, as it refers to an extra faceplate and chest piece that are specifically designed to be used with the Nexus figure, allowing you to build the Jaeger “character.” The pieces offer a nice, streamlined look, which really works very nicely with the motorcycle idea, and itJackalJaeger4 offers a nice set of additional options for the basic Nexus. In addition to the Jaeger pieces, the set includes a pair of handles, a pair of pedals, and a kickstand, all meant to be used with the bike, as well as a sword, a machine gun, a large hand gun, two shotguns, two knives, a pick axe, four holster clips, two double peg adapters, an assortment of other random pieces that I couldn’t begin to classify, and the usual selection of pegs and joints to maximize customizability. That’s a whole lot of stuff. I also like that all of the weapons included are different from what was included with Nexus, as it adds some nice variety to the mix. JackalJaeger6Paint is always a light subject with Assemble Borgs, but it’s worth noting that this set was available in two different color schemes. This is the regular version, but there’s also the Ghost Motor version, which reverses the black and silver bits (it also has some slightly tweaked sculpted parts). I myself prefer the color the way it is here, so I’m pleased that this was the one I went for. Also, there’s a little bit of slop on the faceplate and chest piece, which I hadn’t seen before. It’s nothing too extensive, but it is a little annoying.

JackalJaeger5 JackalJaeger7

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, after Tim dragged me into this line and I realized just how amazingly fun it was to tweak how my Nexus figure was laid out, I kind of figured I should pick up one of the two cycles. I had planned in holding off buying one, just for a little while, but I happened upon a couple of Assemble Borg auctions on eBay for pretty decent prices, and this set was one of them. The cycle itself is a lot of fun, but I’m really excited by all the new Nexus pieces I got. Granted, nothing’s trumped the handle face layout, but I like the extra weapons, and the chest piece is definitely my favorite of the bunch. All in all, this is a fantastically fun set!

JackalJaeger9

#0601: Magneto II

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

MAGNETO II

X-MEN (TOYBIZ)

The 90s, as wacky as they may have been, are still a rather important decade to me. Obviously, being born in that decade does it some favors, but many of my formative action figure collecting years occurred during that decade as well. Growing up, my favorite toy company was very definitely ToyBiz, who were just killing it with their huge selection of Marvel toys. The line that pulled me in was X-Men, which also happened to be their biggest line. And what kind of an X-Men line would it be without a few versions of their very first foe, Magneto?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

MagnetoII2Magneto (or Magneto II, as he’s officially known) was part of the third series of ToyBiz’s X-Men line. He was the second version of the character to show up in the line, which, you have to admit, is pretty impressive for someone who wasn’t Wolverine. The figure stands roughly 5 inches tall and features 9 points of articulation. The 90s X-Men definitely had a style to it when it came to the figures’ sculpts. Some of them have aged pretty well, some haven’t. Magneto is one of the latter. He’s not too bad, but he definitely has some odd spots. The arms are rather stubby, and the torso is quite short as well. He also has a strange assortment of muscles on his torso. I think they’re meant to represent muscles that exist on actual people, but they seem to have missed the mark. At the very least, they’ve managed to translate his costume pretty well to three dimensions. The figure has a weird action feature, even for the 90s. He has a (rather obtrusive, I might add) lever on his back, which, when pulled, is supposed to activate a sparking effect in the transparent square on the front of the chest. It’s worn out on my figure, which is actually a rather common occurrence. Magneto originally included a cape, to aid in masking the action feature, but, as you can see, my figure no longer has his. The paintwork on Magneto is fairly straightforward. He’s got some pretty basic color work, which is all pretty clean.  There is some bleed over on some of the edges, but nothing too major. He’s lacking in pupils; I’m not sure if that’s purposefully that way, but it seems a little weird. Magneto originally included a blaster, because…I really don’t know. Mine doesn’t have that either, so I guess it doesn’t matter.

EDIT 12/25/20 – I have located both the cape and the gun for my figure, so now he’s complete.  Yay!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

For as many of these figures as I owned growing up, this Magneto wasn’t one of them. I ended up finding this guy in a bin of loose figures at this past Balticon. Not quite as great a find as Shatterstar, but, for a dollar, I really can’t complain. I still prefer the first version of the character, but this one’s not bad.