#0572: Clone Sergeant

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

CLONE SERGEANT

STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES

CloneSWB1

It’s been a whole seven months since I’ve looked at a Star Wars: The Black Series figure. That kind of surprised me. I double-checked a few times, but, yep, Darth Vader was the last one I looked at, back on October 6th of last year. It’s odd, because I was pretty sold on this line when it launched. However, the remnants of the first few series have hung around in my area, so finding the newer figures has been few and far between. Evidently, I was so desperate to get something from the line that I was willing to break my one rule going in: No prequel figures. Yeah, bad Ethan. Just go with it, okay?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

CloneSWB2The Clone Sergeant was released as part of the sixth series of Star Wars: The Black Series. He’s figure #07, though it’s worth noting that the numbering restarted for 2014, so he’s a little higher in the actual numbering. The figure is roughly 6 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation. He’s a Phase I-style Clone Trooper, which technically means he’s from Attack of the Clones, although, as I noted in my last Clone Sergeant review, I’m fairly certain the no Sergeants actually appear in that film, making this figure technically a Clone Wars figure. But I could be wrong. This being a Phase I Clone, it’s not really a surprise that the sculpt is identical to that of the Series 4 Clone Trooper, and will be the same as the soon-to-be-released Clone Lieutenant. In Hasbro’s defense, this is completely film accurate and totally to be expected. The additional Clone ranks are here to get more use out of the completely unique tooling of the first Clone. It’s worth noting that this sculpt is a really great piece of work. Everything is nice and clean, and there’s lots of symmetry. The armor is appropriately smooth and the underlying body suit has some wonderful texture work. There is one issue, and I’m not sure entirely how to classify it. Simply put, the figure has a rather obvious set of serial numbers etched into his left thigh. Well, I say etched, but they almost look as if someone chewed them in. It’s strange looking. Clearly, this isn’t meant to be part of the sculpt, but it’s there and it’s rather distracting. The paint is somewhat important on this figure, since it is the one thing that differentiates it from the normal Clone Trooper. It’s okay, but not great. The colors are well chosen, and everything is pretty much correctly placed, but the green areas in particular are rather rough around the edges, looking almost as if the green hasn’t been fully mixed together. It’s only really noticeable up close, but it certainly could be better. The Clone Sergeant is packed with two rifles: one large and one small. These are the same ones included with the normal Trooper, and they are nice translations of the film designs.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

It’s kind of Super Awesome Girlfriend’s fault. See, I was visiting her at school and we went to Toys R Us, because that’s what we do, and they had this figure there. I’ve been resisting the urge to buy a Black Series Clone Trooper for a while now, and so far I’ve managed to do pretty well. But she was standing there with me and she said three words that meant I couldn’t turn the figure down: “It has green!” Damn. So, I bought the Clone Sergeant. And now I totally have a prequel figure, even though I swore I wouldn’t buy any. To be fair, he’s a decent figure. Sure, the paint could be better, but that’s hardly a surprise when dealing with Hasbro. So, has this figure shattered the glass wall preventing me from buying prequel stuff? Will I be tracking down a Darth Maul on eBay? Nah, probably not. He’s cool and all, but I don’t see this being anything but a one off.

#0571: Gipsy Danger – Hong Kong Brawl

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

GIPSY DANGER – HONG KONG BRAWL

PACIFIC RIM (NECA)

GypsyHK1

Certain movies just exude pure awesomeness. Pacific Rim is one of those movies. Seriously, giant robots fighting giant monsters. What more could you want from a movie? Well, if you’re me, action figures of said giant robots and giant monsters. But, that’s just me. Well, not just me, clearly, what with there being a whole line of such figures. So, why not look at another figure of the main giant fighting robot Gipsy Danger.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

GypsyHK3Hong Kong Brawl Gipsy Danger was released as part of Series 5 of NECA’s Pacific Rim line. This is the 3rd Gipsy Danger to show up in the line (though the 4th I’ve reviewed here). The figure is just about 7 ½ inches tall and features 27 points of articulation. That’s a whole ten points more than the first two Gipsies, which is certainly impressive. The figure represents Gipsy’s basic look from the film, but if you want to get really technical, this figure is based on Gipsy during her Hong Kong battle with Otachi. Just in case the name hadn’t clued you in. Gipsy’s big selling point here was that she featured an all-new sculpt. Of course, that sculpt went on to be used as the base for the Anchorage Attack Gipsy, so I’ve actually reviewed a fair portion of this sculpt before. The head, upper torso, and left arm are different, of course, but they’re consistent with the pieces we saw on the AA figure. I made it no secret how much I loved the AA Gipsy’s sculpt, and my opinion of it continues on this figure’s sculpt too. The level of detail present in this sculpt is nothing short of amazing. It well and truly looks like someone miniaturized a real Jaeger. Fantastic work all-around. Getting to see the sculpted work on a more clean example of the design is really nice. Things like battle-damage can hide a sculpt’s flaws, so the fact that the sculpt of the cleaned up counterpart is just as great really means a lot. In addition to massive strides in the quality of sculpts, NECA has also made some tremendous strides in the quality of the paintwork applied to said sculpts. Gipsy’s paintwork is, well, maybe not as fantastic as the sculpt, but it’s still pretty darn great. The various insignias and smaller details are nice and clean (though with a touch of weathering, for realism) and the pearlescent blue is just as cool here as it was on the AA Gipsy. There are a few spots where bleed over crops up, most noticeably around the edges of the visor and chest reactor, but they’re relatively minor and only really noticeable under close examination.  This version of Gipsy is incredibly well-accessorized. She includes two sets of hands (gripping and fists), a fully-extended version of the chain sword, and …what was that last thing? Oh, right, a BOAT SWORD!!!!!!!!! Yeah, that’s kind of the winning piece here, not just because it happens to be one of the film’s cooler moments (which is really saying something), but also because the boat features the same level of sculpted and painted detail that the figure itself possesses. And that’s just downright impressive.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Yeah, I totally skipped this figure when it was first released. Why would I need another normal Gipsy Danger? Well, then I bought the Anchorage Attack version and realized I was wrong to skip this one. Of course, by that point the HKB Gipsy had disappeared from most stores, so I assumed I had missed my chance on getting one. But then I was out with Super Awesome Girlfriend and we stopped by Toys R Us, because that’s just what we do. Obviously, said TRU had this figure, since I brought it up here. Anyway, I’m glad to have finally found this figure, and it’s just a fantastic update on the first Gipsy.

GypsyHK4

#0570: Age of Ultron Minimates Single Packs

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

BARON STRUCKER, ULTRON MK 1, SUB-ULTON – BLUE, SUB-ULTRON – RED, IRON LEGION 02, & 04

MARVEL MINIMATES

AoUSingles1

Okay, today wraps up my reviews of the first “assortment” of Avengers: Age of Ultron-themed Marvel Minimates. For a while now, Diamond Select Toys has been doing “army dump” cases, where you have the chance to buy a few army builder figures in single packs, as well as one or two single-packed non-army builders. Just a few months ago, I looked at the army dump case for the Aliens line. They’ve also shown up a few times in the Marvel Minimates line, to tie-in with several of the movies. They’ve done it once more for Age of Ultron, albeit with a few differences. Technically, these are each single releases, but I received them all as one, and they sort of work as one entity. Also, there are some minor spoilers for Age of Ultron below. Nothing that would ruin your movie-going experience, but if you haven’t seen it yet, you might want to hold off.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These figures are all part of the first series of Marvel Minimates Age of Ultron blind-bagged figures. They ship in a case of 18 blind bagged figures. Previous army dump cases have not been blind-bagged and they have generally been cases of 12, so these are both changes. The ratio of the figures is 1x Strucker, 1x Ultron Mk 1, 3x Sub-Ultron – Blue, 3x Sub-Ultron – Red, 5x Iron Legion 02, 5x Iron Legion 04.

BARON STRUCKER

AoUSingles2Strucker, Strucker, Strucker. This guy was pushed pretty hard as being really important in AoU, and, truth-be-told, his part in the film is rather small. I mean, the guy still has an impact on the story, but I was sort of expecting more, given all the lead-up. His figure is roughly 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. While the line is based upon Age of Ultron, Strucker’s design here is actually the one he had in the post-credits scene of The Winter Soldier. Of the two, the chosen look is definitely the more distinctive, and it means he also goes pretty well with the various Hydra soldiers we’ve gotten. As far as structure, Strucker’s actually almost identical to Black Widow. Obviously, he doesn’t have the hair piece, but he has the same belt and holster. Seeing as they’re both pretty standard paramilitary pieces, they work just as well here as on Widow. The figure’s paint is generally pretty good. His uniform is done with two different tones of green, which adds some fairly nice depth to the design. The line work is also all pretty clean, and rather detailed. The uniform has some great detailing and texturing, and it looks like the one from the movie. I can’t say that the face looks a whole lot like the actor, but it’s not like it doesn’t look like the actor. Also, it seems like the hair may be a)too low set, and b) too dark. Strucker is packed with a handgun and a clear display stand.

ULTRON MK 1

AoUSingles3Hey, another Ultron Mk 1! Cool! It seems more than one toy company was influenced by that distinctive appearance. The fact that it played such a central role in the first trailer probably helped up the popularity of the design. Ultimately, it ended up with a little less screen time than I expected, but what screen time it did have was well-used. The figure is the same height as Strucker, but it only has 13 points of articulation, due to being down a hand. He’s built on the standard Minimate body with the damaged lower arm of the Battle-Damaged T-800 in place of his own lower left arm. The arm’s a good piece. It’s nothing fancy, but it gets the job done. The paint is this figure’s real shining point. The torso and waist are molded in clear plastic, with the actually body painted on. This allows for a more proper robotic appearance for the figure, and it works quite well. The detail lines are superbly handled, and this thing is just covered in texture. The only real drawback is that my figure has some paint rub on the back of the torso, presumable from being packed in with the stand. The stand, for the record, is this figure’s only accessory. That’s pretty much on par with the rest of the assortment, but I wouldn’t have minded getting an extra drone head or something to simulate the partial drone he crushes.

SUB-ULTRON – BLUE

AoUSingles6If you feel like you’ve seen this figure before, it’s because you have…essentially. This figure is effectively the same as the Sub-Ultron included with Winter Ops Hawkeye. If you really want my feelings about the figure, I’d recommend reading the review here. There is one notable difference between this version and that one: the blues of the single release are much paler than the two pack version. Oddly, I actually find myself liking this look a little bit more, for whatever reason. My only real fault with this figure is that there aren’t more of him! Seriously, there are like hundreds of these guys in the final battle, and all we get is three? That’s a little weak.

SUB-ULTRON – RED

AoUSingles7Remember all the stuff I just said about the Blue Sub-Ultron? Well, this is the exact same figure, aside from the blue accents being swapped out for red. Same head, same body, same basic detailing, same display stand. The red, of course, means that Ultron is directly controlling the drone. Thing is, we only see him control them one at a time, so having three seems excessive. Still, I like the red detailing, and this works as pretty decent classic Ultron.

IRON LEGION 02

AoUSingles4Oh boy, the Iron Legion. These guys. Look, I don’t hate them, but I do sort of resent them. See, it’s really their fault that I don’t have more Sub-Ultrons. Because, instead of more Ultron figures, we were subjected to five each (ten total) of these guys. There are a few issues with that. First off, the Iron Legion play kind of a small role in the movie. Secondly, there are only actually 5 Iron Legion drones in the film. How might I know this, you ask? Because, thirdly, the Iron Legion are NUMBERED! As in there is one 01, one 02, one 03, one 04, and one 05. You’ll notice that the figures here are labeled as “02” and “04.” That’s because they represent those numbers of the Iron Legion. So, not only do I have TEN of these guys, but they’re also evenly split between 02 and 04, so they actually aren’t army builders. So, I just have a bunch of extras of two rather specific figures. All that aside, how are the actual figures? Well, 02 is built on the standard body, with no add-ons. Just a vanilla ‘mate. This isn’t bad, because the Iron Legion are depicted as being rather sleek, and since they aren’t actual armor, they aren’t sized to fit a person. Now, being a plain Minimate, 02 relies on paint to convey the design. The paintwork isn’t perfect, but it’s still pretty good. The colors are nicely chosen, and the detail lines are clean and plentiful. The real issue here is that the colors tend to stray outside of the lines.  The 02 has a lighter blue as its accent color, which offers a little more brightness to the design. Iron Legion 02 includes a clear display stand as its only accessory.

IRON LEGION 04

Iron Legion 04 is essentially the same figure as Iron Legion 02. It too uses just the basic Minimate body, has the usual articulation, and includes a clear display stand as its sole accessory. The difference between the two is paint. Now, obviously, this one has a “04” in place of the “02” of the last one, but it also swaps out the light blue accents for black. It doesn’t look bad, but it does result in a slightly duller figure, color-wise.

AoUSingles5

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I purchased these figures as a full case from my favorite Minimate retailer, Luke’s Toy Store. Ultimately, I’m torn on these guys. Strucker is technically well handled, but isn’t the most exciting Minimate. I do like Ultron Mk 1 quite a bit, and he was certainly a well-chosen figure for this assortment. The additional Sub-Ultrons are certainly appreciated, but I really wish there were more of them, specifically the blue ones. The Iron Legion? Well, I like the figures well enough, but I really have a difficult time getting past how many of them were included in the case. They aren’t army builders, and even if they were, I really don’t see how anyone could see them being in greater demand than the Sub-Ultrons. It just feels like very poor planning.

AoUSingles8

#0569: Hawkeye – Winter Ops & Sub-Ultron

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

HAWKEYE – WINTER OPS & SUB-ULTRON

MARVEL MINIMATES

HawkeyeWO&SubUltron1Alright, yesterday’s review did turn out quite as up-beat as I’d hoped. Not every set of Minimates can be a total winner, I suppose. Today’s review isn’t too far removed from yesterday’s. the same two characters are covered here, but I think this one might turn out a bit better. Let’s see if I’m right!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two are part of Marvel Minimates Series 61. This set is the last piece of the first assortment of Age of Ultron-themed Minimates.  It’s one of the two specialty exclusive sets, and it’s the short-pack of the two.

HAWKEYE – WINTER OPS

HawkeyeWO&SubUltron2It’s Hawkeye again! Yay Hawkeye! The figure is roughly 2 ½ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation, although the hip articulation is a little restricted by the waist piece. Hawkeye is depicted here in his coated look from the film, which he wears during the opening and closing battles of the film. Since both of those battles take place in the more frigid Sokovia, I guess “Winter Ops” is a reasonable enough name. It’s actually a pretty nice design, and it works in a few more of the classic Hawkeye elements that were absent from the first movie’s design. While the majority of the figures in this series are complete re-use, this Hawkeye’s only re-used part is his hair, which is the same as the regular Hawkeye’s hair. The figure also has new add-ons for his collar/quiver and his belt/lower jacket. Both pieces are well sculpted and match up nicely to the design of the costume from the movie. The only real issue I ran into is that the quiver on my figure wasn’t very well affixed to the collar, so it fell out almost as soon as I took the figure out of the packaging. It was a quick fix, but it was still a little annoying. Hawkeyes’s paintwork is quite well handled.  From the waist down, it’s the same as the regular Hawkeye, which, given that the jacket of this version is just supposed to go over the regular version, adds a nice bit of consistency. The upper half of the figure is sharply and cleanly detailed, and it does a great job of capturing the jacket’s look. The face on this figure has a more intense expression than the regular, and I think it actually results in a stronger likeness of Jeremy Renner. Guess I just associate the guy with looking pissed off. Hawkeye features the same selection of accessories as his regular counterpart: a bow, three arrows, and a clear display stand.

SUB-ULTRON

HawkeyeWO&SubUltron3So, when you need Ultron, but the regular one calls in sick, you get a Sub-Ultron, right? Nah, not really. The Sub-Ultron is really just the name of the generic Ultron Drones from the movie. Interestingly enough, while Hawkeye never has much interaction with Ultron Prime, he does have a ton of interaction with the Sub-Ultrons, so this packing makes a lot more sense than the last one did. The figure has the same basic height as Hawkeye and he has 14 points of articulation, unimpeded this time. Design-wise, there was really only one real Ultron drone design in the film. I kind of like this one a little bit more, because it’s a more classically styled take on the character. Like Ultron Prime, the Sub-Ultron features a newly sculpted head on the basic Minimate body. It works better here, though, since the Sub-Ultrons aren’t meant to be big and imposing. The head is a fairly straight forward piece. It’s well-sculpted and it looks like the heads from the movie. Paint is really where the strong suit lies on this figure. All of the many pieces of the Ultron body are clearly outlined, and there’s plenty of great texture work. The lines are also all crisp and dark, which hasn’t really been the case with the AoU-mates I’ve looked at so far. The figure also has a few spots of nice, bright blue, which works as a great accent and (in-movie) indicates that Ultron is not in direct control of this drone body. The Sub-Ultron’s only accessory is a clear display stand, but I can’t really think of anything else that could have been included.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like yesterday’s set, I got this one as part of a complete set of Series 61, which I ordered through Big Bad Toy Store. This was actually the set I was looking forward to the most in this series, and I’m happy to say it didn’t disappoint. This Hawkeye design is a little stronger than the last one, and the figure translates it very well. I also like the more intense expression, and it was nice to get a few new parts for this one. The Sub-Ultron is a much more solid figure compared to Ultron Prime. It maintains the same level of paint detail, but without the issues with size. This set is a great addition to the line.

#0568: Hawkeye & Ultron Prime

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

HAWKEYE & ULTRON PRIME

MARVEL MINIMATES

Hawkeye&UltronPr1

Alright, now we get into the good stuff. I mean, sure, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were fun , and Iron Man, Widow, Thor, and Cap weren’t bad, but the movie was called Age of ULTRON. Dude’s in the title. That makes him a little important. Add in Hawkeye who got short changed by the first Avengers movie, both in Minimate form and in the film itself, and you’ve got what makes for quite a winning combination. So, let’s look at the basic Hawkeye and Ultron Prime.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Hawkeye and Ultron are part of Marvel Minimates Series 61, which is the specialty store portion of the first assortment of Age of Ultron Minimates. This set is one of two specialty-exclusive sets from the first assortment, and it is the heavier packed of the two.

HAWKEYE

Hawkeye&UltronPr3Hawkeye’s the requisite Avenger here, though I guess he’s the least “heavy-hitter” of the main six. The figure is about 2 ½ inches tall and he has the usual 14 points of articulation. This figure is based on Hawkeye’s no-sleeve appearance, which is pretty much the same as his main appearance in the first Avengers film. The figure shares his collar and quiver with the Hawkeye from the last movie, but this time around he’s got the Series 27 Ultimate Cap hair, which had been popping up with increasing frequency. It’s actually a better fit for Jeremy Renner’s hair than the previous piece, and a better sculpt in general. At first glance, Hawkeye’s paint isn’t much different than the last Avengers film version. However, a closer look shows that his paint is actually a fair bit more detailed, cleaner, and better aligned to the body. Hawkeye’s face is probably the biggest departure from the last one. I’m not sure that they’ve necessarily captured the Renner likeness any better, but I personally like this face a little more than the last. To be fair, the hair also plays a large part in how the face looks. Hawkeye is armed with his bow and three arrows, and he’s also packed with a clear display stand.

ULTRON PRIME

Hawkeye&UltronPr2And now we finally get to the titular villain, Ultron. It’s taken a little time, but here we are. The figure has 14 points of articulation and stands about 2 ½ inches tall. That last bit is sort of an issue. Like the Hasbro figure before him, this Ultron Prime is simply too small. Now, it’s not unheard of for a Minimate to be slightly out of scale (just ask the Sentinels) but for a character like Ultron, who only needs to be a little bigger than the rest of the line, Diamond usually uses a few add-ons to bulk the character up just a tad. Characters like Groot have received a few pieces here and there to bring them to a more proper height. Ultron’s only additional sculpted piece is his head. Aside from that, he just uses the basic body. This makes him feel rather… unintimidating, especially when supposedly compact designs like the Mark 43 are so much bulkier than he is. The figure really would have benefited from at the very least a waist extender and a bulker torso piece. As is, he feels far too puny for the film’s version of the character. Now, moving past the issues with scale and sculpt, it should be noted that the paintwork on this particular figure is tremendously handled. All of his detail lines are nice and crisp, and his many textural details extend around almost the entirety of the figure. At the very least, on his own, he looks like Ultron. Ultron Prime’s only accessory is a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I got the last two sets from my local comicbook store, they sadly had already sold out of both of the Hawkeye and Ultron sets by the time I got there. To make matters worse, my other go-to retailer for Minimates purchases, Luke’s Toy Store, ended up not getting adequate supplies of Series 61 due to a mix-up with Diamond. So, I ended up having to order a complete set of Series 61 (extras of Iron Man, Black Widow, Cap, and Thor included) from Big Bad Toy Store. I don’t dislike this set. I can’t say it wowed me as much as I’d hoped it would, though. Hawkeye is a great update on the original Avenegrs design. From top to bottom, he is a superior figure to his predecessor. Sadly, Ultron ends up being the disappointing piece here. He isn’t terrible, but he’s been horribly undercut by the lack of any sort of add-ons. His head piece is the first new part we’ve seen so far in this assortment, which leads me to believe that DST were trying to get as much as they could out of re-used parts. Perhaps Ultron’s additional pieces just didn’t cost out. Or it could even be possible that DST was unaware of Ultron’s final scale until it was too late to change. I don’t really know, but the end result is a somewhat lackluster take on the movie’s primary villain. That’s unfortunate.

#0567: Captain America & Thor

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA & THOR

MARVEL MINIMATES

ThorCapAvAoU1

Alright, we’re starting to get into full swing here with the Age of Ultron Minimates reviews. I looked at two of the new comers and two of the mainstays of the main team. Today, I’ll be taking a look at another set of the returning team members. Interestingly enough, it’s my favorite member of the main team and my least favorite member of the main team, packed together, Captain America and Thor. Now, hopefully the Hemsworth fans won’t kill me before I finish the review.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two are part of the first assortment of Age of Ultron Minimates. Cap and Thor were one of the two sets of Age of Ultron-themed Marvel Minimates available in both the TRU assortment and Series 61 of the main Marvel Minimates line. Mine are the specialty release, and there are a few differences between Thor in the two releases, which I’ll get to shortly.

CAPTAIN AMERICA

ThorCapAvAoU2Chris Evans as Captain America may very well be one of my favorite things about the Marvel movies. His take on Cap is on par with Christopher Reeve’s Superman in terms of definitiveness. This figure is the 7th Minimate of his take on the character. He stands approximately 2 ½ inches tall and features the normal 14 points of articulation. Cap is based on his primary look from the film, which, as I noted in my review of the Marvel Legends version of the costume, is a tweak of his STRIKE team suit from The Winter Soldier. As such, it shares many of the same pieces with Series 55’s version of that suit. The helmet, harness, and belt are all the same, and they are just as good here as they were there. The gloves are a reuse of the ones seen on the AoU boxed set’s Nick Fury figure, and they represent a closer match to the gloves from the film than the WS pieces. The paintwork on Cap is generally not bad. There’s a bit of slop in a few areas, and, like the rest of the series, the detail lines could stand too be a little darker, but he looks pretty good overall. The face has a passing resemblance to Evans, which is certainly more than Hasbro’s managed. At first, I didn’t care for the facial expression, but it’s grown on me a little. I still feel that it should commit to either a calm expression or an aggressive one. This one is somewhere in between and ends up looking a little goofy. Cap includes his mighty shield (which is the same as all the previous movie shields), a hand for it to plug onto, a spare hairpiece (which is the same as last year’s Star-Lord, among others), and a clear display stand. These are mostly good pieces, but I don’t think the hair-piece works very well for Cap. It seems he was given this one so that he, Iron Man, and the two Hawkeyes didn’t all have the same hair, but it doesn’t work.

THOR

ThorCapAvAoU3So, hey, remember in the intro when I said Thor was my least favorite cinematic Avenger? Please don’t hurt me, I can explain. See, Thor’s never been one of my favorite Avengers. Yes, he’s a founding member, but he just doesn’t fit well with the whole team thing. Now, I do love Chris Hemsworth’s portrayal of the character in the movies, and I enjoy his interaction with the others, but I can’t say I’m hurt by him having reduced screen time in AoU. Anyway, Hemsworth’s Thor has shown up a little less frequently as a Minimate, with this only being his 5th appearance in the line. Thor is just a slight bit taller than Cap, though he’s only got 12 points of articulation, thanks to the boots. Thor is based on his sans-sleeves look from the film. Seeing as it’s the look he has for both the opening and closing battles, it’s certainly well chosen. It’s also more or less the same design he had in The Dark World, and the figure uses the same selection of parts as the Series 53 Thor from that movie. I don’t actually have that figure (cuz Malekith sucks), but these pieces are all pretty decent parts, and they result in a Thor that looks like Thor. Yay. Now, for paint, it’s important to note that I have the specialty release of Thor, which, simply put, means the paint is better. The TRU Thor was missing a fair portion of the silver detailing on the torso and prevalent instances of the detail lines of the face not lining up with the colors. These issues aren’t present here. However, the figure still has a fair bit of bleed over on the major color changes, and the whites of the eyes and mouth are still the slightest bit misalligned. Also, the face on this figure doesn’t particularly capture Hemsworth’s likeness, though it is DST’s best attempt to date. Perhaps his likeness is just hard to translate. Thor includes his hammer Mjolnir, a flying base, and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like Iron Man & Black Widow, I picked up this set from my local comicbook store. This set is a little bit more exciting than yesterday’s, I think in part due to the strength of the two figures that these two are based upon. I’m glad to have another movie Cap in a more conventional set of colors, and this is the best movie Thor that I own (and I didn’t even have to buy a Malekith to get him!). All in all, this is a pretty decent set, and a worthy update on two rather important characters.

#0566: Iron Man – Mark 43 & Black Widow

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

IRON MAN – MARK 43 & BLACK WIDOW

MARVEL MINIMATES

IM43WidowAoU1

Alright, it’s the Age of Ultron Minimates extravaganza part 2 (Electric Boogaloo)! I kicked things off with two of the film’s new characters, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, but now I’ll be turning back to the “old faithful” characters that we’ve seen a few times before. Iron Man is the “oldest” MCU character, and Black Widow isn’t far behind him. And look at that, they’re even packed together. How convenient.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Iron Man and Black Widow are part of the first assortment of Avengers: Age of Ultron-based Marvel Minimates. They are one of the two sets in the first assortment to be available both at Toys R Us and as part of Marvel Minimates Series 61.

IRON MAN – MARK 43

IM43WidowAoU2It would be weird to have an assortment of Avengers merch without an Iron Man, so here he is. The figure is about 2 ½ inches tall and he has 12(ish) points of articulation. As noted in the name of the figure, this is Iron Man in his Mark 43 armor, which he ends up wearing for the first half or so of the film. It’s worth noting that this makes him not actually fit with the rest of the team’s final battle looks, though it does mean you can display them from the opening battle. Structurally, this figure is the same as the Series 49 Mark 42, which is rather sensible, given that the 43 was just a recolored 42 in the movie. The add-on pieces for the 42 are serviceable, and they do a decent job of replicating the movie’s armor, but they have a few issues. Chief among them is that the upper arms are sculpted in such a way that the shoulders are effectively nothing more than cut joints. That’s really limiting to the figure. In addition, the figure feels a little too built up in general. The 42/43 are meant to be rather sleek, but the ‘mates are rather chunky. All that aside, the pieces do feature some nice detail work and some nice, sharp lines. The paint on Iron Man is pretty decent, actually. In particular, the shades of red and gold that have been chosen are nice and vibrant and have a really great finish to them. The line work is all pretty decent, although it’s perhaps a touch faint. As has become the norm on Iron Men, there’s full detailing under the helmet and torso. The torso offers a cool look at the inner workings of the armor, and the head offers a look at Tony’s face. The Tony face isn’t as good as some of the previous ones; they seem to have missed the mark on the RDJ likeness. The Mark 43 includes a spare hairpiece, a rocket blast piece, and a clear display stand.

BLACK WIDOW

IM43WidowAoU3In the comics, Black Widow is a marginal member of the Avengers at best, but the movies have changed that. There, she’s upgraded herself to one of the most central members of the team. And that’s pretty cool. Her presence in Marvel Minimates is rather reflective of this change. Of the seven Minimates of the character, five of them are movie-inspired. Anyway, onto the actual figure. Widow is roughly 2 ½ inches in height and she’s got 14 points of articulation. She is, of course, based on Widow’s main appearance in the movie. Structurally, she’s similar to the Winter Soldier version of Widow from Series 55. She shares the same belt and one of the holsters, but loses the Widow’s stingers. Also, the hair has been replaced with that of Battlestar Galactica’s Pegasus Six, which is actually quite a good match for her hair from the movie. This Widow ends up being a bit sleeker than previous versions of the character, which is a plus in my book. Widow’s paintwork is certainly passable. There is a bit of slop around the edges of her arm bands, but other than that pretty much everything is clean. One thing I noticed is that the detail lines seem a little duller here than usual. Things such as the “tron lines” kind of fade into the rest of the costume, and the details on the face seem a little light. Speaking of the face, it presents a good likeness of Scarlett Johannssen, but the somewhat vacant expression is a little disappointing in light the Winter Soldier Widow’s more intense look. Widow includes two eskira sticks, a handgun and a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After the craziness that was acquiring Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, getting this set was actually rather simple: I just picked them up from my local comicbook store. I can’t say that this is a set that thrills me. The Mark 42 was not my favorite Iron Man Minimate, and the 43 still has several of the same issues, plus the step down in likeness. Widow fairs a bit better, and I do like a lot about this figure. I think that swapping the heads on this one and the Winter Soldier version might provide me with my preferred version of the character.

#0565: Quicksilver & Scarlet Witch

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

QUICKSILVER & SCARLET WITCH

MARVEL MINIMATES

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Let me kick things off here by saying that Avengers: Age of Ultron was a really, really, really, really, really good movie. Just fantastic. If you haven’t seen it, you should do so. I’ve seen it three times and I still feel like I should see it a few more.

As a Marvel Studios movie, it is of course entitled to the usual tie-ins, specifically Marvel Minimates, one of my favorite lines. The first round of them hit just before the film’s release, so I’ll be taking a look at them over the next few days. Let’s kick things off with newcomers Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are the Toys R Us Exclusive two-pack from the first assortment of Avengers: Age of Ultron-based Marvel Minimates. They were released to coincide with Series 61 of the main line.

QUICKSILVER

QS&SWAoU2Quicksilver gets to go first because he’s technically 2 minutes older. Also fast. The figure is roughly 2 ½ inches tall and he has 14 points of unimpeded articulation. He’s based on the character’s appearance in the film’s big climactic battle scene at the end. It’s a good choice, given that it’s the look that sees the most action. Pietro is built on the standard Minimate body, with an add-on piece for his hair. The hair was previously used on Series 58’s Young Magneto figure. Father and son sharing the same hair piece really appeals to the comic nerd in me. The hair piece is a pretty decent approximation of what his hair looks like in the movie, so it was well chosen. The rest of the design is handled via paint. There’s some good, some bad, and some just plain annoying on that front. The good is that the face features an excellent Aaron Taylor-Johnson likeness and the detailing on the torso and upper legs does a fantastic job of evoking the costume details from the movie. The annoying is that the patterns on his arms don’t line up quite right, resulting in some colors being too thin and some lines being much more jagged than they ought to be. The bad is that the brown detailing of the lower portion of his hair has been missed entirely. This leaves his hair a stark white, which isn’t accurate to his depiction in the film and also looks rather bland. As a whole he isn’t a bad looking figure, but he could be better. Quicksilver includes a dust cloud base to simulate running, as well as a more conventional clear display stand.

SCARLET WITCH

QS&SWAoU3Quicksilver may have been first, but Scarlet Witch is definitely my favorite of the twins, both in the comics and the movie. This marks the fourth time that Wanda has graced the Minimate form, beating Pietro by one. Like her brother she is about 2 ½ inches tall and she sports 14 points of articulation. The articulation here is a little more impeded than it was with Quicksilver; the hair and skirt both do their share of restricting. Scarlet Witch is also based on her final battle look, I’d gather for much the same reasons as Quicksilver. She uses the basic body, with add-ons for her hair, jacket, and skirt. All of the add-ons are re-used. The hair is from Series 50’s Songbird, the jacket is from Knight Rider’s Michael Knight, and the skirt is just one of the generic skirt pieces. They add up to a pretty decent approximation of Wanda’s film appearance. The only piece I’m not 100% sold on is the hair, just due to how it sits, but it isn’t bad. Wanda’s paintwork is actually quite good. I can definitely see Elizabeth Olsen’s likeness on the face and the outfit features plenty of great detail work. She’s even got little gold rings on her hands, which is an easily overlooked detail. Wanda’s only accessory (unless you count her brother) is a clear display stand. She feels kinda light without any extras. Something to illustrate her powers, such an energy piece for her hand or an extra head with red eyes, would have been a very welcome addition to the figure. Oh well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Oh boy, the story of getting these guys. Well, my local Toys R Us sold out of this set before I got there. So, I had to resort to ordering via TRU’s online store, which is really never a fun experience. The item shipped, and I got my tracking information. Like any good collector, I religiously watched the tracking, waiting to see when it would arrive. The item was marked “Out For Delivery” a whole two days before the expected delivery. Cool, I was gonna get it early. But, then it didn’t arrive that day. Or the next. Or the one after that. Another day passed and I finally called my local postal service about it. I was informed that someone would look into it, and I’d get a call back shortly. The next day, after not hearing back, I actually drove to the post office to check on things. I was informed that it was on a truck somewhere and I should come back the next morning before business hours. So, the next morning, I got there before business hours. And no one was there. So, I called them from outside the building and had a long, rather uninformative chat with someone in the back. They told me to go home and wait. Finally, these guys actually arrived, a week after going “Out For Delivery.” Yay, I guess. Anyway, I have them now. To be honest, they aren’t the most thrilling Minimates, but I like them well enough, and I’m damn sure going to enjoy them after all the stress of actually getting them.

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#0564: Return of the Jedi Digital Release Commemorative Set

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

BOBA FETT, BIKER SCOUT, WICKET W WARRICK, & LUKE SKYWALKER

STAR WARS: DIGITAL RELEASE COMMEMORATIVE COLLECTION JediDigital1 Happy Star Wars Day everyb—oh, wait, sorry, I already did that last week. Well, hey, why not have this Star Wars-themed review anyway, just because? So, the Star Wars movies have finally been released digitally! Provided you don’t count the DVDs, Blu Rays, and Laserdiscs as “digital.” I guess you could say that they’ve finally been released in a fully digital format, or something like that. Of course, it’s still the same re-cuts of the original trilogy that they’ve been pushing for a while, so it’s not like there’s much new to celebrate. But Hasbro wanted to celebrate, so dammit they’re gonna celebrate. Being a toy company, they celebrated with the release of TOYS! Shocking, I know.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These four were released as part of the Return of the Jedi-themed boxed set, which was one of the six sets that make up the Star Wars: Digital Release Commemorative Collection. Try saying that name five times fast.

BOBA FETT

JediDigital2Everyone’s most favoritest bounty hunter, Boba Fett! Making figures of this dude is like printing money (it ruins the economy?), so it’s no surprise that Hasbro managed to find him a spot in one of the sets. Boba stands roughly 3 ¾ inches in height and features … 5 points of articulation. Yeah, this is one of Hasbro’s articulation-lite sets. Structurally, Fett is the same as the single release Boba from last year’s Star Wars Rebels Saga Legends and his two-pack release in the Mission Series. It’s not a bad sculpt; the proportions are all pretty good and there’s plenty of texturing and detailing. It would kind of be nice if his right arm was either fully pre-posed so that he could hold his blaster properly or not pre-posed at all; as it stands, he looks like he’s been caught mid-arm lift or something. That aside, the sculpt is generally pretty strong, and one can hardly blame the re-use here. Fett has what is probably the most complex paintjob of the set, and it’s all petty cleanly applied, which is good. It’s worth noting that he’s actually features his color scheme from Empire, not from Jedi. I guess they wanted him to fit with the other bounty hunters from the Empire set. Fett includes a blaster which can be held in either hand, albeit rather awkwardly.

BIKER SCOUT

JediDigital3The Biker Scouts were one of two additions to the Star Wars universe brought on by Jedi’s Endor battle. I’ll get to the other shortly. Height and articulation is pretty much identical to that of Boba Fett, so it’s consistent, I guess. The sculpt is a re-use of the Mission Series two-pack version of the character. It’s actually a pretty strong sculpt. The proportions are all about what they should be, and, best of all, he doesn’t have the weird arm pose thing that Boba’s got going on. Really, this figure feels really similar to the vintage Biker Scout. He’s got a greater level of detail and texture work, but they do give off a the same kind of vibe. The paintwork is fairly straightforward on this guy. He’s molded in all white, with black and a little bit of grey paint. Most of It’s pretty clean, although there are a few spots of bleed over. The Biker Scout includes a small pistol, which he can hold in either hand, or stow in his leg holster, should you so choose.

WICKET W WARRICK JediDigital5

Here’s the other addition from the Endor battle. Yes, Ewoks, those divisive little so-and-sos. Wicket was kind of the central Ewok, being the one that rescues Leia and all, so he earned his spot in this set. It’s worth noting that he’s given the last name “Warrick,” after his actor Warwick Davis, who played him in the movie. That’s a nice touch. Wicket is about 2 inches tall, with only 4 points of articulation instead of the 5 the others have. Wicket’s sculpt was previously used as part of the same Mission Series two-pack as the Biker Scout at which we just looked. It’s a pretty great sculpt. There’s a lot of texture, and it’s a pretty straight re-creation of the movie character. The head covering is a separate piece, which, although it’s not removable, does help to add some depth to the sculpt. Wicket has a paintjob to match the sculpt. It’s not as detailed as some of the larger Star Wars figures, but there’s still some decent work, and everything is clean and well applied. Wicket is armed with a spear which is taller than he is. Talk about compensating.

LUKE SKYWALKER

JediDigital4Last up, there’s this other guy. He’s sort of important to the movie, I guess. It’s not like he’s the main hero or anything. *ahem* Anyway, Luke is about 3 ¾ inches tall and he has those magical 5 points of articulation. Luke is based on his look from the end of Jedi, which, to be fair, is only slightly different from his look in the rest of Jedi. This whole sculpt has been seen before as part of the Star Wars Rebels Saga Legends line. Right up front, this is probably the strongest sculpt in the set. It has some great proportions, great texturing, and great detailing. The pose they’ve chosen is just far enough away from standing straight up and down that it’s still interesting, but not so much that he looks weird. In addition, he’s the only figure in the set with any sort of likeness work on the head. It’s not a perfect match, but there’s definitely some Mark Hamill in that sculpt. He goes lighter on the paint, being mostly molded in black, but the work on the face is cleaner than a lot of Hasbro faces, and the other painted areas manage to not suck, which is always good. Luke includes his lightsaber from the film, and just about the only downside of the figure is that he can’t hold his saber in both hands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

These four were bought for me by my always incredibly supportive Super Awesome Girlfriend. We stopped at a Toys R Us while I was down visiting her a few weeks ago, and I saw this set. I found a few other things I wanted, so I wasn’t sure I would get this one. Super Awesome Girlfriend was having none of that, and insisted on buying it for me. This is a set made up completely of re-issues, however, since I didn’t have any of the originals, that doesn’t bug me too much. Luke and Wicket are the strongest figures in the set and the Biker Scout is a pretty great figure too. Boba isn’t as good as the others, but he’s not terrible, and he’s Boba Fett, so… you have to like him, I guess. You could do a lot worse with $20 than get this set.

Guest Review #0031: Sirius Black

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

SIRIUS BLACK

HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX (NECA)

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The following is a guest review by Jill Mardesich.  For more from Jill, check out her blog Future Music Educator Rambles on Life.

Hey there! It’s Ethan’s resident book nerd friend, Jill! Ethan got me this figure of Sirius Black from the movie version of J.K. Rowling’s book Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for Christmas this year. It’s been a while since Christmas… I’ve been busy. Anyway, Sirius Black, in case you do not know, is the God Father of the main character, Harry Potter. He was best friends with Harry’s father, James, and was framed for the murder of the character Peter Pettigrew, so spent the majority of Harry’s life in the wizard prison, Azkaban.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Sirius2Sirius is designed off the look he has in the fifth Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. He stands approximately 7 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation. He comes with one accessory, his wand, which is about 1 inch long and surprisingly detailed for such a small stick. It actually does look like the prop wand that they gave to Gary Oldman in the movie. He also has a black stand, but is fairly well balanced and can stand up without it. His jacket is molded from a very flexible, rubberized plastic, so his movement isn’t restricted by it, which is good because it isn’t removable. His face is quite life like and there don’t appear to be any paint flaws. His hair, which is a solid piece, is well placed to not interfere with the motion of Sirius’ head. My only complaints about Sirius are that his legs are a solid piece beneath the waist, which Ethan tells me is fairly standard for NECA figures at this time, and that his wand is loose in his hand. It’s very easy to lose such a small, dark piece of plastic and it is my greatest fear that the next time I look at him he will no longer have it. He also only has one “good pose” to place him in because his legs are locked and his elbows don’t bend, but at least it’s a cool, “magical fighting,” action pose. I’m not sure if his face is quite a “magical fight” expression, but he is still really cool in this position.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Sirius Black was my Christmas present from Ethan this year, and he is the first action figure that I have ever owned. I was so excited about it. Sirius is one of my favorite characters in the Harry Potter books, which will always hold a special place in my heart. I grew up reading them, and even skipped school to see several of the movies growing up. I was touched that Ethan would get me such a perfect figure to begin my collection. I think he looks really cool, and very accurate to the movie look.  I wish his legs were posable, but I like the pose that he sits in, so it’s okay. Overall, I love this figure and hope that future Christmas presents include more from this line! (hint, hint)