#0575: Man-Bat

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

MAN-BAT

BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (DC COLLECTIBLES)

ManBat1

While I love pretty much every episode of Batman: The Animated Series, there are two episodes I love above all the others.  The first is “Heart of Ice,” the episode that re-invented the character of Mr. Freeze and made him into one of Batman’s most memorable Rogues.  The other is “On Leather Wings,” which is the very first episode of the series, and is responsible for kicking things off with a serious bang.  The episode steered away from the more established Bat-Rogues in order to focus on the lesser-known Man-Bat.  Man-Bat serves as the logical counterpoint to Batman, and allows for a unique way of introducing the audience to the main character.  The episode perfectly established the tone for the rest of the series, and has some of the best writing and animation of the entire show.  It was an important moment for the series, and Man-Bat is a key part of it, so it’s no surprise that Man-Bat showed up in the latest round of BTAS figures from DC Collectibles.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

ManBat2Man-Bat is figure 07 in the Batman: The Animated Series/The New Batman Adventures line from DC Collectibles.  He is the third and final figure in Series 2 (Poison Ivy was supposed to be the fourth, but she got pushed back due to production issues).  The figure is just shy of 7 ½ inches tall, has a wing span of 15 inches, and has 15 points of articulation.  The design of the character means that he’s a little less articulated than some of the others in this series.  That said, he’s actually the first figure in the line to get any torso articulation, and most of the articulation has a pretty great range of movement.  The only point that’s really limited is his head, which really would benefit from the ability to look upward.  As with the Kenner figure, this version of Man-Bat is based on the Kirk Langstrom Man-Bat from “On Leather Wings” as opposed to the Francine Langstrom (wo)Man-Bat from “Terror in the Sky.”  The figure’s sculpt is, generally, a pretty great translation of the show’s design for the character.  The only real mis-step, as far as I can tell, is the figure’s head.  It’s not terribly far off from the show design, but it seems like it’s a little flatter, depth-wise, than it should be.  In particular, the jaw line seems too shallow.  That being said, it’s closer than Kenner’s attempt, and the differences can be chalked up to the show design not translating quite as well to three dimensions.  Man-Bat is a much larger figure than the others in the line, but that doesn’t mean he gets left out of the accessories game.  The most ManBat3important extra pieces are definitely the extra arms, which are sculpted in a more relaxed position. The default arms are sculpted in an outstretched fashion, which can take up a lot of shelf space and limits the possible poses, so it’s good to have the extra pieces.  Now, it’s too bad that DCC couldn’t find a way to work in elbow and wrist movement, but I can certainly appreciate their desire to not hinder the quality of the sculpt.  These make for a decent enough compromise.  In addition to the arms, the figure includes three medicine bottles, a tape recorder, and a display stand.  The bottles and the recorder are episode specific, and pretty nifty to have, even if Man-Bat can’t really use them.  The stand is pretty much an essential piece of the figure, however, due to his inability to stand very well on his own.  But, at least it’s there, right?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

If you’ve read the last two days’ reviews, it should be no surprise that I got Man-Bat from Amazon.  It doesn’t make for a terribly exciting story, but it’s relatively stress-free on my end.  Man-Bat was a figure I was really looking forward to, mostly due to how much I love the character’s first appearance on the show.  It’s too bad that DCC couldn’t come up with a way to articulate the arms, but the swappable parts do make up for it a bit, resulting in a pretty fun figure, and probably one of the best Man-Bat figures to date.

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#0574: Robin

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

ROBIN

BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (DC COLLECTIBLES)

RobinTAS1

When discussing the definitive actors for certain characters, Batman: The Animated Series comes up a lot. Usually, it’s in regards to Kevin Conroy’s portrayal of the title character, or possibly Mark Hamill’s Joker. There’s no denying that those two defined the characters for a vast majority of the fanbase, and their performances are rightfully praised. However, for me, there’s one more actor who’s just as definitive in his role, and that is Loren Lester as Robin. When I think of Robin, his voice is the one I hear, and as such his version of Robin is the one I’m most interested in owning a figure of. Fortunately for me, DC Collectibles has just released a figure of that very version of the character!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

RobinTAS2Robin is figure 06 in DC Collectibles’ Batman: The Animated Series/The New Batman Adventures line, and he’s the second of the three figures in Series 2. Robin is 5 ½ inches tall and features 28 points of articulation. The articulation here is better than what we saw on Joker, but the height seems a little off. To be fair, Robin was usually depicted as being a little shorter than most of the other adult male characters. However, this version of the character is meant to be college aged, and at more than a half an inch shorter than Batman, he seems too small. Anyway, this figure is based on the Dick Grayson version of Robin from BTAS. Aside from the issues with scale, the sculpt does a pretty fantastic job of capturing the show design. The proportions are all well-balanced, and everything is rather sharp and clean. They’ve even managed to actually capture Robin’s wacky hair, which always threw off the Kenner figures. Here, it’s got the right shape from most angles (although they had to cheat it in a few areas) and it brings some neat dimension to the sculpt. Paint is the area where these figures continue to fall just shy of expectation. Robin’s paint isn’t all bad; they RobinTAS4managed to match the colors pretty well to show, which is definitely a plus. However, the red and yellow areas of the tunic have quite a bit of bleed over between them, and there are a couple of instances of slop. He’s also got a chip of paint missing on his right glove, which is annoying, and oddest of all, he’s got a strange circle of glossy finish on his left cheek. It’s only noticeable from certain angles, but it’s just weird looking. Robin also suffers from the same painted wrist joint issue that the Joker had, so there’s a bit of green wrist confetti to go with the purple. Yay? Robin is pretty well accessorized. Similar to Batman, he includes two capes; one is completely swept back, while the RobinTAS3other is draped over his right shoulder. Both capes sit well and they can be swapped out by popping off the figure’s head, which is pretty easy. Robin also includes a grappling gun, bola whip, a display stand featuring his character design sheet, and 7 hands: a pair of fists, a pair of loose grip, a pair of tight grip, and a left hand holding the grappling gun. I’m still a little a little unsure of why we need both a loose grappling gun and a hand with the gun sculpted in place, but whatever. Also, the bola whip is too thick, which means it kind of ends up looking more like a sort of wobbly staff than a whip. But, all the other accessories are cool, so no issues there.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Robin’s another Amazon purchase. Nothing super exciting, but it was an easy, pain-free way of getting a figure I wanted. Robin’s probably the figure I was looking forward to the most from this series, and, while he isn’t without issues, I’m pretty happy with the final figure. Now, would it be too much to ask for the TNBA version of this costume from “Old Wounds?”

RobinTAS5

#0573: The Joker

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

THE JOKER

BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (DC COLLECTIBLES)

JokerTAS1

It’s pretty much universally agreed that Batman: The Animated Series is not only possibly the greatest thing to come out of the 90s, it’s also one of the best versions of the Batman mythos in just about any medium. One of the series’ biggest strengths was its phenomenal voice cast. In particular, the series is responsible for introducing us to the definitive Joker actor, Mark Hamill. DC Collectibles just released a new figure of this particular Joker. Why don’t we take a look at it?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

JokerTAS2Joker is figure 05 in DC Collectibles’ Batman: The Animated Series/New Batman Adventures line. He’s part of the line’s second series of figures. He stands 6 ¼ inches tall and has 22 points of articulation. Right off the bat (heh!) the articulation has a few issues. He has a fair amount, and what’s there has a nice bit of movement. The issue is what isn’t there. His only ankle articulation is a set of cut joints, and he would really benefit from some movement in his thighs. So, the line is alternating between BTAS and TNBA for designs; the first series was heavier on the TNBA designs, but Series 2 is entirely made up of BTAS designs. This works out in Joker’s favor, as his BTAS design is by far the superior of the two. Joker definitely has one of those sculpts that needs to actually be viewed in three dimensions in order to be fully appreciated. The head in particular looked rather off when I examined the figure in the packaging. Once I took the figure out, however, the sculpt looks much better. It’s not quite spot on (I think the eyes and brow that are throwing it off a bit) but it’s still a pretty strong sculpt. It’s certainly closer than the old Kenner figure. The rest of the body sculpt is pretty much an exact match for the show’s design. One cool touch that’s minor and easy to miss is the bottom of the shirt. Instead of the usual scalloped end, it’s just as straight line. This might seem like a mistake at first glance, seeing as all the promo illustrations have the more involved design. However, if you actually look at his design within the show, he’s always depicted with just the straight line. So kudos to DCC there! The paintwork on Joker is okay, but it does have a few issues. The colors are all very nicely chosen and most of the paint stays where it’s supposed to. There are two main issues. The first is that the left arm has a JokerTAS5scratch of paint missing. It’s not horribly noticeable, and it’s definitely an isolated issue, but it’s definitely annoying. The other issue is that, for some reason, they’ve painted the inside of the wrist joints. Obviously, the joints come in contact with the paint, which means Joker had a stream of fairly steady purple confetti falling from his sleeves for the first few days he was out of the package. Joker is armed with, well, let’s just call it an “interesting” assortment of accessories. The figure is technically based on the episode “The Last Laugh” for reasons that pretty much no one can figure out. So, the figure includes an ice pick, pearl necklace, comb, spyglass, and helmet that are all specific to the episode, and ultimately a bit pointless in the long run. They’re all decent enough, apart from the helmet, which has a very poorly placed assembly seam. The figure also includes a display stand and an assortment of hands. The hands are all pretty nice, but two of them are clearly sculpted to hold a playing card that was ultimately cut from the figure, and none of them are sculpted to hold the included spyglass, which makes them a bit odd.

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THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Joker was acquired via Amazon. Not really much of a story there. I paid for it and it arrived. Fun times. I was looking forward to this figure initially, but early packaged shots made me uncertain. I’m happy to say the figure is much better in hand than I expected. Still not perfect, but still good.

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#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.

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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.

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#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.