#0595: Panzer Puncher

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

PANZER PUNCHER

ASSEMBLE BORG (REVOLTECH)

PanzerPuncher1

What the heck is a Panzer Puncher? That’s probably a question that you, dear reader, are wondering right now. Well…um…it’s kind of just this thingy. I honestly feel like no explanation is ever going to live up to that name. Is he a Panzer that also punches? Is he a guy who exclusively punches Panzers? Who knows? Not me, that’s for sure, but I’m hardly going to complain. ‘Cause how can you complain about a name like Panzer Puncher? You just can’t. Anyway, he’s another figure from the Assemble Borg line, on which have recently become hooked. Does he live up to the phenomenal Nexus? Let’s find out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

PanzerPuncher2Panzer Puncher was entry 011 in Revoltech’s Assemble Borg line. He was part of the second round of heroic Borgs, under the “Counter Strike” heading. The Counter Strike figures each had a “CONVERTING SYSTEM” gimmick, and Mr. Puncher here is apparently “For Close Combat CONVERTING SYSTEM” according to the box. Panzer Puncher pre-dates the change-over to the more modular style of Assemble Borg introduced with Nexus, so he’s a little bit more of a traditional figure. However, he does still have a fair bit of customizability. In his standard, no-add-on set-up, Panzer Puncher is roughly 6 inches tall and has 42 points of articulation. While Nexus had a rather technical detail-intensive sculpt, Panzer has a much cleaner, sleeker design. Every detail carries a certain quantity of weight to it, which gives Panzer Puncher a rather bold looking design. He definitely feels like a different style of character compared to Nexus, though the two still manage to mesh well together. They’re definitely from the same line. All the PanzerPuncher5Counter Strike figures feature the same set of pieces as a starting point, with tweaks here and there to emphasize their particular theme. Since Panzer Puncher is a thoroughly close-combat style of character, his armored parts are a little bit more bulky and lot more squared-off. The guy’s even got a freaking battering ram on his face, just to send home the message of what exactly his specialty is. Panzer also includes a set of big ol’ shoulder pads, which, through use of some extra Revolver joints, can be attached to his shoulders for additional protection. But, hang on, isn’t this guy’s name Panzer Puncher? Shouldn’t he have some serious fighting-fist capabilities? Fear not, dear reader. The shoulder pads can be moved from the shoulder and attached in place of his normal-sized hands, for proper giant fighting-fists. What’s more, the tops of the shoulder pads can be removed and placed together, to create a big sea mine looking thing, which you can use for just about whatever you want. Also, I don’t think this is true of every version of the figure, PanzerPuncher4but my Panzer came with three tops for his shoulder pads instead of two. More armor for me! In addition to the shoulder pads/fighting fists, Panzer includes a multi-part display stand, an action impact stand (my favorite of the two), a backpack, a selection of Revolver joints (with a cool box to keep them in), and four pairs of hands: fists, gripping, open gesture, and karate chop. For some reason, my figure has two left chopping hands, but I feel certain it’s supposed to be right and left. Bummer, but it’s not like I’ll be using the normal hands anyway. Also, Panzer has a Revolchip worth 10 points. During the line’s run, these could be traded in for various promotional items, but only if you had a Japanese address. No Revolchip points for me! For Nexus, the paint hardly seemed worth mentioning, but I would be remiss to neglect it on Panzer. He doesn’t have the most complicated paint in the world, but he does have some pretty amazing semi-metallic, glossy finish blue on his armored parts, which just looks absolutely amazing in hand. It just pops!

PanzerPuncher3 PanzerPuncher6

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

It’s still Tim’s fault. See, I didn’t quite share the whole story last time. After Tim showed me the two figures he had ordered and before they arrived, the two of us decided to troll eBay to see what figures were readily available. Tim ended up purchasing yet another two figures, and, after looking through a fair amount of pictures, I decided that Panzer would be my first Assemble Borg. So, I went ahead and bought an amusingly incorrectly named “Panzer Pancher” from a seller on eBay. Of course, then Tim got an extra Nexus and ruined that plan, but hey, what are you gonna do? Panzer definitely exhibits a different side of the line than Nexus, but I certainly didn’t enjoy him a single bit less. He’s an incredibly fun figure, and one of those toys that I keep finding myself picking up and messing with a lot. Of course, now I’m firmly entrenched in this line and there’s no way of going back, but, hey, what’s one more import line to collect?

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#0594: The Creeper

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

THE CREEPER

BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (DCC)

CreeperTNBA1

DC Collectibles seems to finally be getting into the swing of things with their much anticipated Batman: The Animates Series line of figures. They started off a little bit rocky with a fair share of quality control issues on the first series, causing them to delay production on all upcoming series for a few months. One thing they still seem to be working on getting down, however, is a firm definition of just what figures are in a series. When the QC issues from Series 1 arose, DCC quickly pushed back the release of Series 2 in order to fix some of the problems. They foresaw the potential for more prevalent problems in the planned Poison Ivy figure, so she was removed from Series 2 entirely, and slotted for a later release. It seemed like this just meant Series 2 would be one figure smaller, and I even indicated this in my review of the three remaining Series 2 figures. It would seem I was wrong…sort of. Not long after the rest of Series 2 made their way to shelves, one more figure showed up.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

CreeperTNBA2The Creeper is figure 11 in DC Collectibles’ Batman: The Animated Series/The New Batman Adventures line. For those of you keeping score at home, he’s actually only the eighth figure to be released in the line, but DCC spent all that money designing packaging and printing out those checklists included with every figure, so they certainly weren’t going change things up for pure logic’s sake! Creeper was released sort-of-kind-of as part of the second series of figures in the line. The other three all shipped together, but this guy was late to the party. That said, Series 3 still seems a ways off, so that would put this guy with Series 2. The first series didn’t all ship together either, so I guess that’s just how this line’s gonna work. The figure stands just over 6 ½ inches tall and features 26 points of articulation. My Creeper figure only had 24 of those points right out of the box, as his right shoulder was completely frozen in place. It loosened up after about 20 minutes or so of me prying at it, but wow was it a pain. The Creeper is based on his appearance in the penultimate episode of The New Batman Adventures, “Beware the Creeper.” Seeing as CreeperTNBA4it’s the only time he appeared on the show, I suppose that’s fair. The figure sports a sculpt that is unique to him. It’s a pretty great translation of the show design, which is nice to see. Like with any animation-based figure, there are certain viewing angles that don’t look quite right, but the figure manages to avoid them as best he can. The face seems a tad bit long and the jaw is a little too square, but the overall appearance isn’t bad. They’ve opted to have the boa be a sculpted piece. That’s probably the best possible choice, but it does mean he’s rather top heavy and some of his articulation is a little restricted. Still, it’s well-sculpted, and it makes for an accurate representation of the design without looking too silly, so points for that. Creeper exhibits what is probably the best paintwork I’ve seen yet from this line. It’s still not perfect (especially on the shorts), but things are mostly CreeperTNBA3clean, without too many scuffs or scratches. The head is the best part, with some phenomenal line work on the eyes, eyebrows, and mouth. Creeper is packed with a pretty great selection of accessories. He starts off with three different pairs of hands. He’s got a standard set of fists, gripping hands, and open gesture hands. There’s also the standard display stand, which features his design sheet control art printed on the base. Lastly, he’s got a Batman party mask and a pool cue, which are both really cool episode specific pieces. (EDIT: He also has a rat.  I don’t remember quite what he did with the rat in the show, but I assume it was in the episode.)

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Creeper really snuck up on me. I had heard through various sources that he had been released, but I hadn’t really looked into it. I figured I’d eventually get around to ordering him from Amazon, like I did with the last three. This past week, I was picking up my comics from my local store, Cosmic Comix, and just happened to spot this guy hanging on the rack behind Batman and Two-Face (who I really should get one of these days). Usually the store places new figures up near the front with the new comics, so I almost missed him. This guy is just super covert. I’m glad I didn’t miss him, though, because he may well be my favorite figure in the line so far. He’s still got a few issues here and there, but I really feel like DCC is starting to get the hang of things!

CreeperTNBA5

#0593: Rick Grimes

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

RICK GRIMES

THE WALKING DEAD (MCFARLANE)

RickComic1

When McFarlane Toys first launched their Walking Dead figures, they were…well, they were pretty darn terrible. The sculpts were weirdly proportioned, they looked very little like the characters they were supposed to represent, and their articulation was awkward at best. They had launched the comic and TV-based lines pretty much simultaneously, and both were met with a less than stellar reaction. So, the comic line went on hiatus and the show line…um, removed the articulation? Just for one series, anyway. Then the TV line revamped itself with Series 3, to a fair bit of success. The comic line followed suit, and has been doing a lot better. Let’s look at the line’s most recent take on the lead character Rick Grimes.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

RickComic2Rick was released in Series 3 of McFarlane’s comic-based The Walking Dead line. The figure stands about 5 inches tall and has 22 points of articulation. Losing a hand generally cuts back on articulation, so he’s down a few points there. Rick’s based on his look post issue 50 or so. He was pretty consistently grizzled from that point forward, so this figure can represent just about any point in the series after that. Rick has what appears to be an all-new sculpt. It’s possible his legs might be shared with a previous figure, but I really can’t tell. Like Andrea’s, Rick’s sculpt does a pretty great job of managing to look like artist Charlie Adlard’s illustrations while still managing to have a decent real world feel. I don’t think the head sculpt is quite as good a match for the art as Andrea’s, but it’s not too far off. The body sculpt does a great job of capturing Rick’s more diminished build as the series has gone on, and it features some fantastic detail work, especially in areas such as the bandaged arm. Rick’s paintwork is pretty well handled. His colors are RickComic4appropriately dulled without being too boring. He’s got a substantial bit of blood splattering, which adds a nice battle worn touch to the character. It’s also worth noting that, unlike Andrea, Rick’s arm joints are molded in flesh tone, so the color won’t scrape off. Rick is armed with his revolver, a hatchet, a shotgun, and an assault rifle, which is a rather impressive assortment.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up Rick here at the same time as yesterday’s Andrea, from Cosmic Comix during a pretty great sale. I had actually though about buying him a few times before, but just never got around to it. I was happy that he didn’t have any of the breakage/molding issues that Andrea did. He’s not the most exciting figure of all time, but he’s a pretty solid take on the series’ lead character and definitely worth a purchase, though maybe for not for quite the full price.

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#0592: Andrea

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

ANDREA

THE WALKING DEAD (MCFARLANE)

Andrea1

The Walking Dead is a massively successful television show, however, as just about everyone knows, it didn’t start out on the small screen. The brand began its life as a comic book series, which itself became rather successful. McFarlane Toys managed to snag the toy rights to both the comic and TV incarnations of the series. Things didn’t start off so great for either line, but McFarlane seems to have turned the lines around. The TV line has become their main focus, but they haven’t abandoned the comic side of things. Today, I’ll be looking at their version of Andrea, a character who was treated a little better by the comics than she was the show.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Andrea2Andrea was released as part of Series 3 of McFarlane’s The Walking Dead comic book line. The figure stands just shy of 5 inches tall and features 26 points of articulation. On my figure, one of the wrist joints was broken out of the package, so she lost a point there. Andrea is based on her appearance in the series from around the issue 90-100 range. She’s got the scar she received during her stay at the prison, but it seems to have faded, as it did later on in the series. This means that she matches pretty well with the other two human characters in Series 3 as far as the timeline of the books. Andrea has an all-new sculpt, which does a pretty good job of capturing how she looks in Charlie Adlard’s illustrations. The face, in particular, is spot on to her design. What’s nice about the sculpt is that she stays true to Adlard’s style while also still looking like a fairly realistic person. There are plenty of fine details throughout the sculpt that add some pretty great dimension to the figure. Even though she’s a comic-based figure, she probably wouldn’t look too out of place with the TV-based figures. Andrea’s paint isn’t terrible. For the most part, the details are clean, and there isn’t really any slop or anything. I wish they had molded her arm joints in flesh tone plastic instead of painting them; a few poses and the paint’s mostly gone, revealing an unappealing grey. Some of the paint is also a bit on the thick side, which tones down the sculpted detail quite a bit. Andrea includes a knife, pistol, and her trusty sniper rifle. It seems like my figure was towards the end of a stock of plastic, as the knife and pistol both appear to have just a little less plastic than they should.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

A while ago, I stopped reading The Walking Dead, due in no small part to a rather adverse reaction to the comic’s 100th issue. The show was enough for me. At that point, the comic line of figures was on an extended hiatus between Series 1 and 2, so when the line returned, I had moved away from all things comic related, so I didn’t pick up any of the figures. So, why did I pick up Andrea? Well, a few things. For one, as I noted in the intro, I was never totally pleased with the show’s handling of her. Secondly, Cosmic Comix was having a sale where Walking Dead figures were $5. That was a substantial enough mark-down that I figured I’d go for it. The figure’s got a few flaws, several of which I’m sure are isolated to my figure, but are flaws none the less. At full retail, I probably would have been slightly disappointed. At the price I paid, she’s really not bad, and she’s certainly on par with anything from the TV line.

#0591: Cpl. Dietrich & Colonist Mary

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

DIETRICH & COLONIST

ALIENS MINIMATES

Deitrich&Mary1

There’s just one more review left from the first wave of Aliens Minimates! You might not quite realize at first glance, but this particular set is one of those rare instances of two female characters packed together. Of course, one of them is wearing heavy body armor and the other has that whole chest burster thing going on, so it might be easy to miss. Still, it’s at least a little nifty. So, let’s have a look at the Colonial Marines’ resident field medic, Cpl. Cynthia Dietrich and her pack mate, the ill-fated Mary.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two are another set from the specialty store assortment of the first series of Aliens Minimates. This set is the short-pack of the series, which is pretty understandable, given the more obscure nature of the two figures included.

CPL. DIETRICH

Deitrich&Mary2Dietrich is one of the Marines in the film who’s easy to overlook if you aren’t paying super close attention. She’s got a few scenes of note, but she fades into the background when compared to the more cartoonish personalities of characters like Ferro or Drake. Still, the team would hardly be complete without her, so here she is. The figure stands about 2 ½ inches tall and has 12 points of articulation. Dietrich is pretty much the same as the other Marines when it comes to construction. She features the same helmet, body armor, and boots/shin guards as Weirzbowski, Hicks, and Apone. The sculpts of these pieces are just as well handled here as they were on the other figures, so no complaints there. As an added bonus, the slightly long hair visible at the back of the helmet doesn’t look quite as out of place here, which is good. The paint on Dietrich is pretty much on par with the rest of the Marines we’ve seen so far. Overall, it’s not bad, but there are a few issues here and there. The torso armor is probably the worst, with some sloppy paint on the buckles near the top and an off-center name “tag.” The camo application under the armor is essentially the same as what we saw on Hicks. The lack of camo on the backs of the legs is still a little glaring, but it is what it is. It’s nice to see that they’ve given Dietrich a different set of detail lines on her torso to indicate her gender a bit better. It seems like a given, but it would have been easy for DST to overlook it. Dietrich’s face is rather generic, though, to DST’s credit, actress Cynthia Dale Scott doesn’t have the most distinctive face either, so it’s a reasonable approximation. Cpl. Dietrich includes an alternate hair piece, a pulse rifle, and a clear display stand. The hair piece was originally used for Tomb Raider’s Roth, and it’s not one of my favorites. It seems too short on the top and too bunchy at the sides for Dietrich. I almost feel like she’d look better with something closer to what we saw with Hicks.

COLONIST MARY

Deitrich&Mary3We don’t see much of the colonists in Aliens. Heck, in the theatrical cut of the film, we really don’t see them at all, except for poor Mary here. She only speaks three words and has less than a minute of screen time, but she does an amazing job of reestablishing for the audience just how frightening the life cycle of the Xenomorphs truly is. As a result, she’s pretty darn memorable. Add in that her small part is one of the few times that Dietrich gets any sort of focus in the movie, and you’ve got a pretty great second half to this set. Mary’s construction consists of the basic Minimate body with two sculpted add-ons: a hairpiece, and a chest burster. The hair is one we’ve seen a few times before. To be truly movie accurate, it should probably look a little more wet, but it works well enough as a re-use. We first saw the chest burster piece in the Alien boxed set. It’s pretty well sculpted piece. The collar portion of it is maybe a touch on the bulky side, but it works pretty well, and does an effective job of translating the rather gory design of the film to a more mass market-friendly look. The paint is definitely a big piece of what makes Mary…Mary. She actually exhibits some of the best work from the series. Everything is applied pretty well, with no real issues with bleed over or fuzzy line work. She’s got the appropriate level of grime, and they’ve even gone the extra mile to give her a properly sickly-looking skin tone. Throw in an expression with just the right level of “I so wish I weren’t here” and you’ve got a pretty great summation of Mary from the movie. Mary’s only extra is a clear display stand. It kind of would have been nice to get some sort of bit of hive wall to have her stuck to, but that would undoubtedly have to be an all-new piece, and I imagine the budget was already pretty high on this series.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This pair is the last piece of the full set of Aliens Minimates Series 1 that I picked up from Luke’s Toy Store. Dietrich is an alright figure, but she’s not a terribly interesting one. The Marine armor is still cool, but she’s the Marine in this series with the least character, which doesn’t do her a whole lot of favors. Mary’s actually a surprisingly well put together figure. Still not super exciting, but to an Aliens geek like me, she’s actually pretty cool. To be honest, this is probably the one set in the series that most people can afford to skip. It’s not bad, but nothing here’s going to blow anyone away.

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#0590: Pvt. Drake & Battle-Damaged Attacking Alien

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

DRAKE & ALIEN WARRIOR – BATTLE DAMAGED

ALIENS MINIMATES

Drake&Xeno1

Aliens is one of those movies where, even though some characters are much more minor than others, to the hardcore fans every character is just as important as the next. This is particularly true of the Colonial Marines, a group that just looks cooler if you have every member, even the ones with no lines or even particularly distinguishing features. However, some of the Marines are more distinct than others, such as Private Mark Drake, one of the squad’s two smartgun-wielding soldiers. Let’s have a look at him as he faces off against yet another pesky Xenomorph!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two are part of the specialty assortment of Aliens Minimates Series 1.

PVT. DRAKE

Drake&Xeno2When you get right down to it, Drake here is kind of the Boba Fett of Aliens. He’s a character with a limited amount of screen time, who is ultimately inconsequential to the overall plot of the movie. However, he’s a got a certain following, mostly due to the fact that he’s pretty cool looking. Clearly, going by my theory, there’s a whole ton of Expanded Universe stories starring Drake that are just waiting to be written! The figure is roughly 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. Drake includes two main sculpted add-on pieces. He’s unique in the fact that he doesn’t use the same armor pieces as the rest of the Marines (though, presumably, Vasquez will also be making use of the armor). He does still have the standard issue shoulder lamp, but it’s plugged into an all-new torso piece, which is a pretty great recreation of Drake’s armor from the film. It features two different ports to plug in the smartgun’s arm, allowing a little extra poseabilty. The other piece on this figure is his hat/headset combo, which is another new piece. It’s pretty well handled; the hat is a little on the simple side, but the headset is fantastically rendered, and even features an articulated eye-piece that can be moved away from his eye for the less battle-ready look he sports a few times in the movie. In terms of paintwork, Drake is very well-handled when viewed from a technical standpoint. Everything is nice and clean. The fact that his boots are painted on means that they go around the back of his legs, which makes the lack of camo in those areas stand out less than on the other Marines. The likeness is a pretty good match for actor Mark Rolston, however it seems a little too smiley for Drake. I mean, he did grin a few times in the movie, but a grimace of some sort feels like more his speed. He’s also missing the scar from under his left eye, which is pretty prominent in several shots of the movie. There are a few bits of graffiti missing from the armor, though they’re Drake&Xeno3pretty small and easy to miss in the film. The biggest issue is what’s under Drake’s body armor. He has the same standard fatigue shirt as Hicks and Apone. It’s well-detailed and it looks good, but in the movie, Drake is actually wearing a flak jacket under his armor (you can see it in the hive scene after he ditches the smartgun harness). It’s a minor thing, but it’s one of the character’s more distinctive uniform deviations, and it would have been nice to see it here. For accessories, the main event is, of course, Drake’s smartgun. It’s a very well sculpted piece that is accurate to the source material. It includes an arm with a ball joint at either end, allowing it to be attached to the figure’s chest piece, and once in place, he can actually hold it pretty well. Drake also includes a spare hat without the headset and a clear display stand. It might have been nice to get a hairpiece and an extra acid-burned head, but the smartgun is plenty.

BATTLE-DAMAGED ATTACKING ALIEN

Drake&Xeno4And the award for longest name for an alien variant goes to this guy! Wow, that’s a lot of lead in words. Ostensibly, this alien is more or less the same figure as the battle-damaged Alien from the single-packs, with one notable change. Like all the other Aliens in the line, the Battle-Damaged Attacking Alien has add-on pieces for the torso, head, hands, feet, and tail. This particular Alien uses the open-mouthed head, and what differentiates him from his single-packed counterpart is the presence of the second mouth/tongue piece used on the Attacking Alien. This offers a little bit of variety among the Aliens, so there’s no complaints there. The paintwork on the Battle-Damaged Attacking Alien is almost identical to that of the first battle-damaged alien, which in turn makes it pretty much the same as the regular warrior alien with the addition of the acid blood splatters. The blood splatters here are exactly the same as the ones from before, which is a little disappointing. It would have been nice for the splatters to be on the opposite limbs or something, just to mix things up. This Alien, like all the Aliens, includes only one accessory: a clear display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked these two up as part of a full set of series one that I got from my favorite Minimate retailer, Luke’s Toy Store. Drake is the star of the set. He’s a surprisingly well done figure. Sure, there’s a couple of inaccuracies, but the figures is fun enough to distract from these issues, and he’s just incredibly well put together. He makes for a great taste of how Vasquez will turn out. Despite the relatively short review, and slightly disparaging remarks about the paint, the Alien is a very well-handled figure. It’s a little disappointing to those who already have the singles, but on its own, it’s a strong figure, and it accents Drake quite well.

#0589: Sgt. Apone & Warrior Alien

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

APONE & WARRIOR ALIEN

ALIENS MINIMATES

Apone&Xeno1

After a little bit of a wait, the first wave of Aliens Minimates has finally found its way to all the various Minimate retailers. Things started off with a bang with heavy hitters Ripley and Hicks, but the rest of Wave 1 is decidedly a bit more low-key on character selection. Today, let’s look at Apone, the most prominent of the also-rans, as he faces off against one of the movie’s titular creatures.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Apone and the Warrior Alien are part of the specialty release of Aliens Minimates Series 1. Apone seems to be remaining exclusive to this set, but the Alien is sure to turn up elsewhere (and kind of already has…)

SGT. APONE

Apone&Xeno2“Where’s Apone?” Here’s Apone. The ill-fated Marine Sergeant isn’t a stranger to toys (though he hasn’t had quite as many as other Aliens characters), but this is the first, and likely only, appearance of the character as a Minimate. He’s presented here in his standard Colonial Marine armor, which is nice for consistency’s sake, though he’s probably the one Marine in the movie who gets most of his key scenes before suiting up. The figure is roughly 2 ½ inches tall and has 12 points of articulation. Apone features sculpted add-ons for his helmet, chest armor, and boots/shin guards. These pieces are the same ones we saw on both Hicks and Weirzbowski. It’s standard issue armor, so that certainly makes sense. The pieces are still impressively sculpted and quite accurate to the source material. Like Hicks, Apone’s shoulder lamp is removable. He isn’t seen without it, but it’s nice to have the option. The issue with the hair on the back of the helmet is a little more obvious here, given how close cropped Apone’s hair is supposed to be, but it’s relatively easy to overlook. Apone’s paintwork is decent overall, but there are a few glaring issues. I’ve already addressed the shade of the armor, so I won’t get into that again. The armor does have a few other issues, though. The black areas are a little sloppy, and his name on the front of his torso is off-center and a little angled. He also has the same issue with the misaligned helmet camo that Hicks had, so it seems that wasn’t a one-off. Under the Apone&Xeno4armor, the figure is very well detailed. His uniform’s camo extends all around the torso, however, it’s still absent from the under sides of the arms and the backs of the legs. He has an assortment of insignias running down his sleeves. They’re well-defined, however, his Marine patch actually says USMC instead of the proper USCM. It’s a minor thing, especially given the size, but it’s still not right. Apone features a pretty great likeness of actor Al Matthews, and his hair is painted onto the basic headpiece, so as to replicate its close-cropped nature. This does leave him with an exposed peg hole, however, DST has provided a few solutions to that. Sgt. Apone includes a baseball cap, a standard issue pulse rifle, a facehugger, and a clear display stand. Apone sports the hat in most of his early scenes, so it’s good to see it here, and it provides a way to show him sans helmet, without showing off the peg hole on the head. We never actually see Apone with a facehugger, but it’s implied, and I certainly won’t turn down another opportunity to get a facehugger.

WARRIOR ALIEN

Apone&Xeno3It wouldn’t be much of an Aliens toyline without a few of those pesky Xenomorphs, now would it? After being the big focus of the single-packed figures, it looks like the different varieties of aliens are finding their way into the two-packs as well. The Warrior Alien is, in essence, the same figure as the single packed Alien Warrior. It stands about 2 ½ inches tall and has 16 points of articulation. The Warrior Alien has sculpted add-on pieces for the torso, head, hands, tail, and feet. This is the same selection of parts from the Alien Warrior, but that’s hardly an issue. These pieces are quite well sculpted, and the aliens should look the same anyway. The closed mouth is a little more open here than it was on the previous release, which adds some variety, I guess. The paint is about the same as the last release. Lots of details that really sell that whole bio-mechanical thing. It’s worth noting that the lines are bolder on this release, making the details a little easier to see. The Warrior Alien only includes a clear display stand, however, this seems acceptable, given the quantity of sculpted parts present.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got the two of these from my favorite Minimate retailer, Luke’s Toy Store. This isn’t the most exciting set in the bunch, but it’s not bad. Apone is a decent addition to the line. He’s not quite up to the same level as Ripley or Hicks, but he’s a good accent figure. The Warrior Alien isn’t anything new if you’ve already got the single release. However, it’s still on par with the single release, which was a pretty fantastic Minimate. And it’s not like you can’t have another Xenomorph hanging around…

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#0588: Ripley & Cpl. Hicks

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

RESCUE MISSION RIPLEY & CPL. HICKS

ALIENS MINIMATES

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The Aliens line of Minimates started off a little bit differently than other lines; instead of getting right to the principle characters, things were kicked off with a case of single packed Xenomorphs and a few of the film’s more minor characters (and Burke, but who wants that guy, right?). It was certainly a fun start to the line, but it was a little odd to have all those aliens and not have a Ripley to face off against them. Fortunately, DST has followed up the army builder case with a more conventional set of Aliens Minimates, including a set with everyone’s favorite Warrant Officer turned space-faring action hero, Ellen Ripley. And, to top things off, she’s also brought along Colonial Marine Corporal Dwayne Hicks for the ride!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These two are part of the specialty assortment of Aliens Minimates Series 1. Both figures will also be available in the TRU assortment, but they will each be packed with a Xenomorph.

RESCUE MISSION RIPLEY

Ripley&HicksMM2This figure ends up actually being the second Minimate of Ellen Ripley, however, it’s the first one from Aliens. As the name denotes, the figure represents Ripley during her rescue mission to save Newt from the alien hive, towards the end of the film. It’s generally the look most people associate with her character, especially for this movie, as it featured prominently on the film’s poster and was the look she was sporting for many of the film’s definitive Ripley moments. The figure is about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. Ripley has add-on pieces for her hair, watch, and “suspenders.” The hair is a piece we’ve seen a few times before (it first cropped up on El Indigo from Fistful of Dollars). It’s a near perfect match for Ripley’s hair from the movie, and it well-sculpted to boot! The watch is also a piece we’ve seen before, most recently on the Alien set Ripley, this line’s own Carter Burk. It’s a pretty standard watch piece and it does its job well. The suspenders appear to be new to this figure. They have some fantastic texture work, and you can even make out the grenades that are strapped in place. Ripley features some grade A paint work. The colors are all pretty great matches for what we see on screen, and the detail lines do a great job of outlining all movie-Ripley&HicksMM4details. Her pants feature all the proper stitching and pockets, and her shirt even has darker coloring near the top of her chest to simulate sweat stains. I bet that smells lovely. The face isn’t a 100% spot-on likeness of Sigorney Weaver, but it’s not far off, and it even has some red scuff marks to show the beating she takes over the course of the movie. I’m also happy to see she hasn’t been saddled with a vacant expression. Ripley should have an intense look about her, and this figure does. Ripley includes a standard clear display stand, as well as her signature pulse rifle/flamethrower combo. The combo piece is actually reversed from how it’s assembled in the film, but it’s still pretty well-sculpted. Also, the set includes two of them. Ripley only had the one and Hicks never carries such a thing, so I’m not sure which figure the second is meant to go with.

CPL. HICKS

Ripley&HicksMM5Hicks makes his debut into the world of Minimates with this figure, however, actor Michael Biehn has actually had two Minimates before, courtesy of the Terminator2 line. While Ripley has a couple of distinctively different looks over the course of the movie, Hicks’ looks are all more or less just slight variations on his basic Marine armor, so this figure effectively encompasses all of those looks. Hicks features an impressive selection of sculpted add-ons, with pieces for his helmet, chest armor, boots/shin guards, and shotgun holster. We were given a preview of a lot of this figure’s parts with the single-packed Pvt. Wierzbowski figure. The Colonial Marine armor is generally quite well rendered in the Minimate style. The details of the armor are all pretty well defined, and it’s quite accurate to the source material. The chest armor is a little on the bulky side, but it isn’t terrible. The helmet is pretty good, although the little bit of hair we can see towards the back is a little too long flowing to really be accurate for any of the Marines we see in the movie. Hick’s armor load out has a few differences from what we saw on Wierzbowski. The most obvious, of course, is the addition of the holster, which is well sculpted and fits snuggly over the chest armor. Also, while Wierzbowksi’s shoulder lamp was fixed in place, Hicks’ is Ripley&HicksMM6removable. Given that the character doesn’t have the lamp for the whole film, this was a nice choice. The paint on Hicks is generally impressive, however, there are a few minor issues. The color of the armor really feels too light for the source material, which reduces the contrast between armor and uniform. To DST’s credit, the same issue was present on Wierzbowski, so it’s likely that they just want to keep the Marines consistent. Also, the additional details on the torso armor and helmet are a little sloppy, and on the helmet in particular, it seems as though the camo screen was a bit misaligned, causing it to run over the black of the camera strap. The paint isn’t all bad, though. Under the armor is a (mostly) fully detailed set of camo fatigues, which are very nicely detailed, even if the camo pattern doesn’t Ripley&HicksMM7continue to the back of the legs. Hicks’ chest armor also features his signature heart and lock detail, which is nice and sharply defined. The face detailing presents a decent depiction of Michael Biehn, though I’m not sure it’s quite as good a likeness as the second Kyle Reese. As far as accessories go, Hicks makes out pretty well. He gets a clear display stand, a pulse rifle, his signature shotgun, an alternate hair piece for an unhelmeted look, and an extra bandaged head to depict him from towards the end of the movie, after he takes some acid to the face. Generally, these accessories are quite nice. The hair piece seems a little too… Elvis-y? for Hicks, but it works alright.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got these two (after a fair bit of waiting for the cases to make their way to retailers) from my favorite Minimate retailer, Luke’s Toy Store. Ripley’s the figure I was most eagerly awaiting from this wave. There are a few minor nits here and there, but overall, this is a fantastic translation of one of the most distinctive characters in cinema. Hicks is one of my favorite movie characters of all-time, from my favorite movie of all-time. So, the bar was set pretty high on this guy. The final product isn’t without issues, but there’s more than enough good about this figure to make up for it!

Ripley&HicksMM8*This review was originally published at Minimates Central

#0587: Fake Barbarian

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with ,

FAKE BARBARIAN

WEAPONEERS OF MONKAA

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If a hero is no good without an arch foe, than it follows that said arch foe just isn’t all he could be without a trusty lackey. They just have to have one. Bonus points if they in any way mirror the hero. Just play those parallels waaaaay up. In the case of Weaponeers of Monkaa’s Masters of the Universe homages, we have the Fake Barbarian, the “Evil Doppelganger of The Good Guy.” Fun times.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

FakeBarbarian2Fake Barbarian is the other half of the exclusive Weaponeers of Monkaa figures offered at the 2014 Designer Con. Like Uncle Overlord, he found his way onto the Spy Monkey Creations store following the convention. In his standard, out-of-the-bag layout, the figure stands approximately 4 inches tall and has 19 points of articulation. The Fake Barbarian is yet another head-to-toe re-use of the same set of pieces we’ve seen on all the WoM figures to date. However, given that Faker, the character this guy pays tribute to, was himself just an excuse to repaint a He-Man figure, the complete re-use of parts makes even more sense here than it does on any other figure. As one would expect, given that he is a doppelganger of the Eternal Barbarian, the figure’s go-to head is the Empyreus head. It’s usually a heroic head, but the coloring actually does a pretty convincing job of making it more cold and villainous than usual. He also has all the other FakeBarbarian3heads from the line, should you want to switch things up, and they each have their own separate color scheme. The color scheme of the Fake Barbarian is, of course, based on that of Faker, which in turn means that he shares a lot of his colors with Uncle Overlord. Just like they were with Uncle O, the blues look very nice, and really suit the body well. The Fake Barbarian also throws a bit of silver and orange into the mix, allowing him to more closely mimic the color layout of the Eternal Barbarian. The silver is pretty clean, but the orange ends up suffering from just a little bit of slop around some of the edges. The Fake Barbarian includes the same set of accessories we saw with Uncle Overlord: two each of the short blades, sickles, bent blades, serrated blades, hilts, guns, and handles, all molded in light blue.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Seeing as he’s the other half of the Designer Con set, it follows that, just like Uncle Overlord, the Fake Barbarian’s release slipped past me. No clue how that happened, but it did. However, as soon as I realized I had missed out on these two, I corrected that mistake and ordered them. I’m glad I didn’t miss out on these guys; they’re a whole lot of fun, and their a fantastic addition to the sub-set of tribute figures started by the Eternal Barbarian and the Lord of War.

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#0586: Uncle Overlord

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with ,

UNCLE OVERLORD

WEAPONEERS OF MONKAA

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What is a hero without an arch foe? Sure, they’re still a hero, but life’s probably at least a little on the boring side, right? Besides, all the best heroes have their own arch enemies. And He-Ma—sorry, The Eternal Barbarian—has his own arch enemy in the form of the evil Skeleto—I mean … Uncle Overlord. Which is just a fantastic name, by the way. I mean that in the sincerest way possible.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

UncOverlord2Uncle Overlord was one of two exclusive Weaponeers of Monkaa figures offered at the 2014 Designer Con. It seems that Spy Monkey Creations learned from the shortage of stock of the Eternal Barbarian figure, as this one showed up on their online store following the convention, without the need for a second run. Uncle Overlord’s sub-heading is “Evil Uncle Overlord of The Good Guy,” which, I gotta be honest, is a descriptor on par with the figure’s name in the level of amusement it brings me. If you’ve read any of my previous WoM reviews, you pretty much know the drill on construction. In his basic set-up, he’s about 4 inches tall and has 19 points of articulation. He’s assembled from the same set of pieces as every other figure in the line. No surprises there. He uses the Umberus head as his standard piece, which is fitting, given that Umberus looks something like the love child of Skeletor and Megatron. It’s actually my favorite of the basic UncOverlord3heads, so I’m always happy to see it as the primary piece. The head is, of course, decked out in purple and yellow, and evokes Skeletor very nicely. The rest of the body follows suit. It’s actually pretty nice to see the blue here, as there’s kind of a shortage of blue Weaponeers. The paint work here isn’t quite as complicated as what we saw with The Eternal Barbarian, but it does manage to be a fair bit cleaner in application. That seems like a fair enough tradeoff to me. Uncle Overlord is packed with all of the extra heads we’ve seen before. None of them have particularly exciting color schemes, but they match the rest of the body quite nicely. Uncle O also includes the basic blade and sickle, as well as the more expansive weapons pack, featuring guns, handles, hilts, sickles, and three types of blades. And, thanks to the interchangeability of the line, you can even approximate Skeletor’s signature staff!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Somehow, in some way that is beyond my own personal comprehension, I managed to miss this guy being put up on the SMC store. He completely slipped by me, until I happened to check in on the store before their Granite Warriors drop. Fortunately for me, he didn’t sell out very quickly, so I was able to pick him up a little bit after the fact. Truth be told, I think I may actually enjoy this guy even more than the Barbarian. Something about him really just speaks to me. The paint is sharp, the colors are great, and the names and sub-titles make it clear that the folks at SMC had a fun time putting this guy together.

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