#3705: Ultra Magnus

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

ULTRA MAGNUS

TRANSFORMERS GALAXY VERSION (BLOKEES)

I haven’t reviewed anything Transformers-related here on the site since way back in June, when I left off with a Ultra Magnus that didn’t transform.  I’m picking things back up today with….an Ultra Magnus that doesn’t transform.  Look, I just always come back to the Magnus, alright?  Today, I’m diving into new thing, Blokees, which, despite the fact that my mind keeps reading it as “Bloke-ees”, is actually “Blok-ees”, you know, like a “block”.  Clever, right?  I mean, I guess.  Anyway, Blokees is a company that does little small scale figure model kits, with their first major endeavor being Transformers.  There’s an Ultra Magnus to be had, and who am I to say no?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultra Magnus is part of the Transformers Galaxy Version line’s fourth assortment, dubbed “Fractured Space-Time.”  He’s one of the standard 1 in 9 blind box figures from the set, making him an even chance compared to all the other standards.  This is the line’s second Magnus, following up on the requisite white Optimus repaint in the third series.  This one, however, is the proper fully armored Magnus that everyone really wants.  Since these are model kits, they’re unassembled right out of the box.  You get three parts trees and a bag of loose parts, which you assemble to get the figure.  Assembly isn’t bad.  It’s not too intense, but you definitely want to make sure you get things right the first time around, because it holds together really tightly, and it can be tricky to pull things back apart to fix them.  But, as I said, once assembled, the figure holds together really well, and gives him a pretty solid weight.  When assembled, the figure stands 4 1/4 inches tall and he has 18 points of articulation.  The sculpt for this guy is clearly animation based, specifically on the G1 cartoon, as are most of the Galaxy Version kits.  A lot of the core parts are shared between all of the figures in the set, and those all work well.  The Magnus-specific parts are all really nicely handled, very clean, and mesh well with the standard parts.  There’s some slight deforming to the design, but it’s pretty minor on Magnus specifically.  Magnus’s color work, which is largely achieved via the separate plastic pieces, is quite vibrant.  There’s a little bit of extra detailing on a few of the parts to fully sell the design.  Magnus’s build also gives him two sets of hands to swap out (gripping and open gesture), his rifle, an energon cube, a faction insignia, and a stand.  That’s actually quite a bit for such a small package, and covers pretty much all of your bases.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Blokees just sort of materialized out of nowhere, but they’ve been everywhere and I was very definitely curious about them, and was looking for a good jumping on point to try.  Hey, there’s a Magnus!  That sure is a nice jumping on point.  Of course, they’re blind boxed, so I couldn’t just grab one.  But, if you buy a whole case, you’re guaranteed a full set, so, you know, easiest way to get a Magnus, right?  Look, don’t fight me on this.  I actually wound up getting the whole case so that I could try them out with Matty, who’s always looking for fun things to occupy his time.  We’ve been having a great time building them together, and I got a little Magnus out of the deal.  It’s a really fun little figure, and a really fun product in general.  Just a great all around product, especially for the price.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3704: Red Skull

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

RED SKULL

SPIDER-MAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (TOY BIZ)

“The Red Skull, a notorious American enemy during World War II, continues in his quest toward world domination. And being the military and political genius that he is, the world better beware! Traditionally an enemy of Captain America, this evil villain has recently turned his attentions towards the amazing Spider-Man and his heroic exploits. And not that weapons-master Red Skull has employed his special “Giant Skull Catcher” device, this villain of all villains makes any rival easy prey!”

Nazis.  I hate these guys.

So, remember when one of Captain America’s most prominent Toy Biz era releases was inexplicably in their Spider-Man line?  And that was kind of weird?  I mean, I guess there was a whole arc with Cap in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, so it wasn’t *that* weird.  Cap was supposed to get his own cartoon, but it was ultimately the victim of Marvel’s bankruptcy.  That left Cap and his supporting cast without a real landing spot, so Cap was in the Spider-Man line, and so was his nemesis Red Skull, the aforementioned Nazi, who I hate.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Red Skull was released in 1998 as part of Toy Biz’s Spider-Man: The Animated Series tie-in line, as part of the “Flip ‘N Trap” assortment, which was an odd gimmicky assortment under the larger “Sneak Attack” sub-line.  It’s sort of strange that he was in an entirely separate assortment from Cap, and wasn’t even released in the same year, but there it is.  Maybe he sat around for a bit before release?  This was the first ever Red Skull figure, which has its own sort of notability.   The figure is a little over 5 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation.  Skull got a lot upgraded articulation, which was honestly pretty cool.  The sculpt was an all-new one, and I don’t believe any of it was re-used later.  Despite being in an animation-based line, the Skull’s sculpt doesn’t seem to be based directly on his animated appearance.  It’s more of an all-purpose Red Skull, I guess.  The sculpt’s slightly wonky.  The proportions are slightly odd, with notably large hands and feet.  The head also seems a little too actually skull-like for his usual looks.  The left hand appears to be sculpted to maybe hold, oh, I don’t know, a cube, or something?  But nothing of the sort is included.  The color work on Red Skull is generally basic, but there’s some decent accent work on the head to help with the sculpted details.  Red Skull is packed with his own “Flip ‘N Trap” thingy, which is a backpack with a large red skull thing at the front.  It launches these small yellow rubber spider things.  It’s honestly more of a space filler than anything, and doesn’t really do much for the core figure, but it’s not terrible.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When I was a kid, on a trip to Toys R Us with my dad, I recall having the choice between getting this guy or X-Man.  I chose X-Man, because I guess I’m more of a heroes guy.  I did wind up getting Red Skull later down the line, obviously, courtesy they guys over at Cosmic Comix.  I lost some of the weird launcher parts over the years, but I was able to re-complete my figure thanks to trade-in at All Time.  Honestly, he’s kind of a weird figure, but then, so have most of the Red Skull figures.  I guess this one just sort of set the precedent for the ones that followed.  Ultimately, he’s not terrible, but he’s wonky.  I suppose that means he just matches up with the corresponding Cap in quality.

#3703: Darth Vader

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

DARTH VADER

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE (HASBRO)

“Inside the Death Star’s detention corridor, Darth Vader is intent on snapping Princess Leia’s defiance. Accompanied by an Imperial interrogation droid, the Sith Lord enters cell 2187, determined to learn the location of the hidden Rebel base from his royal prisoner”

Jumping from one caped guy in black to the next, in 1/18 scale no less!  So, look, guys, I have a lot of Star Wars figures sitting around here.  There’s a notable backlog of those guys I gotta work my way through, so I might as well do a little bit of that now.  And, if I’ve got a helping of Star Wars reviews coming at you, you know I gotta start it off with Power of the Force, because here I am with a bunch of Power of the Force, specifically.  The line had an impressive coverage of the depth of characters from the galaxy far, far away, but it also had a lot of variants of the main characters from the original trilogy.  For characters with similar looks for all three films, such as Darth Vader, the figures were pretty similar and meant to be more all-purpose, but before the end of the line, they started going a bit more movie-specific.  I’m looking at the line’s last take on Vader today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Darth Vader was added to the Power of the Force line in 1999, as part of the first of the two CommTech assortments that wrapped up the line.  As the line’s last hurrah, there was certainly a focus on heavy hitters.  The figure stands just over 4 inches tall and he has 8 points of articulation.  He’s got those extra swivels on his elbows, as the line experimented with going beyond the basic 6 they’d launched with.  It doesn’t do a ton, but it adds to the variety, I suppose.  For his last entry in the line, Vader goes decidedly back to the beginning, with our very first specifically A New Hope-inspired Vader, focussing directly on his appearance in the interrogation scene.  His sculpt was all-new, and is quite a strong one.  It wound up getting re-used a bit down the line due to how strong it was.  It’s a little pre-posed, again going into the scene specific bit, with his hands posed near his belt.  The proportions are solid, moving entirely away from the buff look of the early figures.  The details are also really sharp, which is nice.  The cape is cloth this time, which is a little awkward at this scale, but ultimately works okay if you get the posing right.  His paint work is simple, largely relying on molded black plastic, but there’s some variety worked in there.  Vader was packed with the interrogation droid (aka Dr. Ball, MD), who has its own little flight stand.  He’s also got the CommTech stand, for CommTech stand purposes.  He is, notably, devoid of a lightsaber, since there’s a hilt sculpted to the body, and he doesn’t use the saber in the Interrogation scene.  Later uses of the mold would fix that, though.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

It took me a surprisingly long time to get this figure.  When I really jumped into the Power of the Force thing, All Time even had a sealed one, but I didn’t snag him at the time, and he sold before I got him.  My first encounter with this mold was actually one if its later uses, namely the comic pack version, so I did at least know what to expect.  I wound up snagging this one loose just a few months ago.  He’s honestly pretty solid, and probably the best Vader in the line, so it’s a good note to go out on.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3702: Zorro – Alejandro Murrieta

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

ZORRO — ALEJANDRO MURRIETA

HERO H.A.C.K.S. (BOSS FIGHT STUDIOS)

Oh man, two figures from films with James Horner scores in the same week?  Should I go on?  Maybe some Rocketeer or Wrath of Khan? Titanic if I dare?  Not Avatar, though.  Never Avatar.  Can’t do it.  I haven’t talked directly about Zorro as a concept here on the site.  Honestly, that’s largely because, do to the somewhat confusing and complicated nature of the Zorro licensing making it hard to do a ton of figures.  Like, they’re out there, but it’s always a bit of an ordeal.  There have been a great many incarnations of Zorro over the years, and, by far, my favorite incarnation is The Mask of Zorro, 1998’s reinvention of the franchise starring Antonio Banderas as the successor to the mantle.  Despite the film’s success in the ’90s, it got no direct tie-in figures at the time.  Thankfully, Boss Fight Studio stepped in for the save, and put out their own version of Alejandro Murrieta in figure form!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Zorro — Alejandro Murrieta was released under the Hero HACKS branding, as part of the second round of figures celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Zorro franchise.  He was released alongside Elena from the same film.  The figure stands just shy of 4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  He’s using Boss Fight’s H.A.C.K.S. set-up for his build and articulation set-up, though the articulation’s evolved just a little bit from the Vitruvian figures I looked at way back when.  Largely, it’s the hips and ankles that have seen re-works, to offer a slightly better range of motion.  It certainly works well.  The sculpt looks to be an all-new one (though it’s possible he might share parts with the other Zorro’s; having not picked them up, I can’t say for sure).  It’s certainly solid.  The articulation on the elbows is a little obvious, presumably to give him better range, but otherwise things are pretty well worked in, and the proportions are well balanced.  The outfit is also nicely detailed.  The masked head doesn’t have a spot-on Banderas likeness, but it’s not too bad, especially for the scale.  You can definitely see who it’s supposed to be, and they got the spirit of the character down.  The hat’s removable, but surprisingly well scaled to the body, and it stays in place without too much trouble.  The cape’s a little bulky and static, making deeper lunging poses a little difficult, but, again, given the scale, not bad at all.  His color work is a lot of black, as expected.  It’s got all the details it should, with some pretty sharp accenting.  The only area that’s a little sloppy is the face, notably the eyes, but generally things look okay.  Alejandro is packed with two sets of hands (gripping and open gesture), an unmasked head, his sword, two whips (one coiled and one uncoiled), and a display stand.  The unmasked head is an okay sculpt, but feels a little too kempt for Alejandro in Mask, feeling more like his Legend of Zorro appearance, which I don’t think any one really wants.  The sword is nice, and can be stored on the belt as well.  The coiled whip can also be stored on the belt…sort of?  The loop is really soft, so it winds up falling off really easily.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Mask of Zorro is definitely a favorite of mine, especially when I was a kid.  I even had the poster up over my bed for, like, 15 years.  I’ve wanted some form of Alejandro as Zorro since the movie came out, honestly, but there was nothing but an unrelated Zorro line at the time.  I made due, but it was never really what I wanted.  I recall these figures being shown off, but I wasn’t able to get one when they dropped.  I actually got to mess with the 1/6th scale version of Alejandro a few months back, but he was just too expensive, so I had to pass.  Then, as luck would have it, this one landed in front of me, which was cool, because it was the one I wanted in the first place.  He also wasn’t crazy expensive, which certainly helped.  He’s a very nice, very fun little figure, and I’m glad to finally have him.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3701: Peter B. Parker

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

PETER B. PARKER

SV-ACTION (SENTINEL)

When Into the Spider-Verse first came out, it had very minimal toy coverage.  There were some basic figures from Hasbro and a few Funko Pops, but that was really it.  Then the movie was a big hit, and the proper licensing went out, and it was just a field day.  Everyone and their mother was making something.  The 1/12 scale in particular got flocked to, with a bunch of Miles and Peter offerings.  One of the companies in the mix is Sentinel, a company I’ve only recently looked into.  I’m taking a look at their version of Peter B Parker today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Peter B. Parker was released in Sentinel’s SV-Action line in 2021 as a single release.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation.  As I touched on in my first Sentinel review, their articulation set-up is somewhat unique, being a little more straight forward than a Figuarts release, but still a little more complex than, say, a Legends release.  There’s more nuance to the posing on this one than even the Armored Cap figure I looked at previously.  Generally, the tolerancing on the joints is pretty good, with no real floppiness, and a lack of things being too tight as well.  Peter B has a unique sculpt based on his fully suited-up look from Into the Spider-Verse, which has been a surprising rarity for his figures.  It’s very accurate to the animation model for the character, capturing his more unique build from the movie (right down to the slight paunch he has around his stomach), and working in the articulation without breaking things up too much.  It also handles all of the smaller detailing via sculpted texture work, which covers the whole figure.  It works very well, and again gives him a unique feel.  Peter B’s color work is pretty straight forward, but well handled.  There’s a lot of molded colors, with just enough paint to fill in the change-overs, and the painted vs molded actually match up quite well.  He’s got smaller work for the weblines, which are pretty decent, as well as the eyes, which are bright, clean, and sharp.  Peter B is packed with a whole plethora of extra parts, including four different heads (two masked, two unmasked, with differing expressions), 15 different hands (pairs of relaxed, open gesture, wall crawling, fists, webline gripping, thwipping with attached webs, ungloved, and right hand holding a coffee mug), a pair of glasses, four different webline pieces, and a display stand.  The glasses I feel are destined to get lost, but that’s what it is, I guess.  It’s too bad that we didn’t get an optional jacket and sweatpants, but there are other options for those, so I suppose this one is just more focused on the full suited look.  What he *does* get in addition to the Peter B parts is an extra unmasked head, lower torso, and pelvis, so that he can double as the Peter of Miles’s universe, making him a two-in-one figure, which is very fun.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Much as I love the Spider-Verse films, I’ve thus-far stuck exclusively to Legends style figures for the characters from it, in part because the Legends have honestly just been pretty solid themselves.  That said, I’ve certainly become more connected to Peter B as a character, especially his journey into fatherhood in Across, which paralleled with my own personal journey, so when this figure landed in front of me, I felt urged to pick him up, especially because I was able to get a good deal on a used one through All Time.  I had initially used the Miles-verse Peter as my true justification for getting, but with the Legends one officially announced, I guess it’s back to really being the Peter B himself that sold me on it.  And, honestly, he’s just a very, very cool figure.  Now I just need to find him a pink bath robe.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3700: Cpl Dwayne Hicks

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

CPL DWAYNE HICKS

ALIENS: COLONIAL MARINES (HIYA TOYS)

The post-Aliens video game Aliens: Colonial Marines had, amongst other things, a long path to its release, taking six years to finally make it to players. It was not well-received at all upon its release, which isn’t the sort of thing you generally want out of a game that took six years to make. It does, at the very least, undo one of Alien 3‘s more disliked elements, the death of Corporal Dwayne Hicks, albeit in a rather convoluted and awkward sort of way. Still, they got Michael Biehn to reprise his role, which was pretty cool, and there were also some cool figures, courtesy of Hiya Toys. I’m looking at their take on Hicks today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cpl Dwayne Hicks was released in the initial run of Hiya Toys’ Aliens: Colonial Marines tie-in line, at the same time as game marine Quintero and fellow film marine Hudson.  They hit in 2016, three years after the game’s release, which seems like a bit of time to wait, but it’s only half as much time as it took for the game to make it out, so, you know, perspective and all that.  All of these figures, even the “movie” ones, were technically game-based, with the non-game characters being based on their multiplayer skins.  Hicks technically exists in both capacities, but this figure, which lacks the scarring he received at the end of Aliens, seems to be the multiplayer/movie version.  The figure stands 4 inches tall and he has 27 points of articulation.  The articulation set-up is ultimately something of a mix between the 25th/30th era G.I. Joes and Hasbro’s Marvel Universe.  Generally, not bad, but the hip pops off a lot, and one of the knees is a little gummy.  Hicks’s sculpt had a lot of overlap with Quintero and Hudson, with them each just getting a unique head sculpt.  The head’s…not great.  It’s rather soft on the details, and the likeness just really isn’t there.  You’d be forgiven for just not realizing this was meant to be Hicks at all.  Below the neck, things are a little better.  The proportions aren’t bad, and the armor detailing is all pretty solid stuff, with the torso armor in particular honestly being pretty strong.  Because of the parts sharing with Quintero and Hudson, his sleeves come down way too far on the arms; Hicks’s sleeves aren’t visible under the armor in the film.  He’s also missing his watch and wrist band, and the lack of wrist coverage also highlights how oddly misshapen the hands are at the base of the wrist.  The color work on this figure leans into the game colors, so his uniform is bluer than the film, and his armor is browner, which makes for rather an odd contrast.  Like, it’s not terribly off, but it’s enough to throw you at first.  The application’s a little thick, but otherwise not too bad.  Hicks is packed with his helmet, shoulder lamp, shotgun, pulse rifle, a pistol, a motion tracker, and a display stand.  The helmet is wildly inaccurate, missing the back neck cover, the ear covers, and the comm, removing the distinctive Colonial Marine silhouette when he’s wearing it, and generally throwing off his look.  It’s a real shame, given how weak the likeness on the underlying head is.  The gun sculpts aren’t bad, but the hands don’t hold any of them particularly well.  Also, the pulse rifle gets no sling, and the shotgun and pistol have no holsters, so he just kind of has to throw them off to the side when not using them, I guess?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I honestly did my best to avoid everything to do with Colonial Marines after it dropped and was so mediocre, and that included the tie-in stuff.  I didn’t even know about these figures until after they’d dropped, and Hicks jumped in price rather quickly, so I never snagged him.  He got traded into All Time a month or two back, missing the shotgun, so I was able to get him for a slightly better deal.  Then the shotgun surfaced, and he was all complete again, which was pretty cool.  Ultimately, he’s not great.  I’m glad I didn’t pay the mark-up on him, because that really would have put me off.  As it stands, he’s a Hicks I didn’t have, and it was very easy for me to snag him, so it was hard to say no.  Sometimes, that’s just how it is.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3699: Blue Beetle

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

BLUE BEETLE

DC SUPER HEROES (HASBRO)

For years, Blue Beetle was theorized to be in the unproduced fourth wave of Kenner’s Super Powers, but when the full line-up was finally found, this was proven untrue. What *was* true, however, was that Blue Beetle was meant to be in the unproduced fourth wave of *another* Kenner DC line, namely Total Justice. Our first hint of this was his appearance in several pages of the Total Justice coloring book, eventually followed up by shots of the prototype. While Kenner themselves would never produce a Blue Beetle figure, their successors at Hasbro would eventually put out Kenner’s scrapped one, giving Ted his very first action figure in the process.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Blue Beetle was released as part of one of the four DC Super Heroes two-packs released via HasbroCollectors.com in 1999. He was packed alongside a Flash variant and a tiny version of the Atom wearing his Teen Titans costume. The figure is about 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation. Beetle’s sculpt was new to him, but, like a lot of the Total Justice sculpts, parts were reused in the JLA line. In particular, his legs were used by Red Tornado. The sculpt is…well, let’s call it interesting. It’s hands down one of the most preposed and hardest to get standing sculpts of the TJ era. As you can see, I actually had to use a Protech stand to keep him upright for the photos. He’s also exceptionally skinny, made even more egregious because Ted’s usually a slightly stockier guy. Here, he looks like a swimmer, and a particularly skinny one at that.  That said, I do quite like the etched-in details for the costume, something that most of the JLA fill-in figures wound up lacking.  His head uses a multi-part assembly for the googles, which allows them to be clear plastic.  Unfortunately, there’s no actual light piping or anything, so the ultimate result is kind of a muddy amber appearance.  In terms of the rest of coloring, he’s decent enough.  A little on the dark side, and while I’m never one to complain about metallic blue, I don’t know that it quite feels right for Ted as a character.  Application is at least pretty cleanly handled, though.  Despite having a left hand clearly molded to hold something, Ted was without any accessories of his own.  Presumably, had he been released single, there would have been some sort of fractal armor accessory, which we see a little more of in those coloring book pages.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t recall the exact circumstances that lead to me getting this figure.  I know I owned the whole boxed set he came from, and I know I got them from my parents for some sort of occasion.  Maybe Valentines Day?  I remember that Cosmic Comix had all four of the sets in stock, and I’d gotten the Green Lantern/Doctor Polaris and Superboy/King Shark sets already, and I’d looked at this one a bunch of times, so I’d wager my dad probably caught me eying it and bought it for later.  This was my first real exposure to Blue Beetle, and it’s admittedly not all that great a figure.  I do really appreciate the quaintness of him, though.

#3698: General Hawk

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

GENERAL HAWK

G.I. JOE REACTION FIGURES (SUPER 7)

Well, let’s keep this weekly ReAction review thing going and take a look at the third figure I’ve gotten from a line I wasn’t planning to get any of, G.I. Joe ReAction Figures.  It’s such an odd little line, and even Super 7 themselves don’t seem to see the longevity on it, if the introduction of their O-Ring line this year is anything to go by.  But, the O-ring line’s not here yet, and ReAction still is, so I’m over here falling back into my safe realm of guys in bomber jackets.  There’s no sense in trying to lean away from it.  So, let’s look at General Hawk.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

General Hawk was released in Wave 7 of Super 7’s G.I. Joe ReAction Figures line, and it was only in doing the work to double check his release information that I even found out that this line had actually made it through *seven* assortments.  Like, when did they do that?  I mean, I guess in the last couple of years, but, still.  I mean, I guess I’m glad they got to Hawk, because Hawk’s cool and all, so I won’t complain.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  It’s still rather odd to have a Joe articulated like a Kenner figure, but I’m growing more accustomed to it as I move forward.  Hawk’s sculpt is another all-new one.  He’s seen here in his best look, which is v2 bomber jacket-sporting look, which also served as his look for the Sunbow cartoon.  The sculpt leans more into animated than anything else, since it’s a little removed from how the actual c2 figure looked.  I can respect that; if I want a v2 faithful figure, I’ve got the actual v2 figure.  The sculpt is a little stiff, as is the case with all of these.  Hawk’s generally a stiff guy, though, right?  I mean, he’s at least a little better than Duke, though.  Duke’s the worst.  But not Hawk.  Hawk’s paint work is decent enough.  Pretty basic, and again leaning into the animation angle.  It’s a little sloppy on the hairline, but otherwise not bad.  He’s packed with a pistol and a removable helmet.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This guy got traded into All Time, and that was genuinely the first time that I even knew the figure existed.  Not that I was deterred by the lack of knowing he existed.  He’s Hawk, he’s in a bomber jacket, and that’s that.  Ultimately, he’s got the same general drawbacks as the other Joes I’ve looked at in this style, but I think the extra touches, like the removable helmet, make him a touch more impressive.  Plus, he’s got the bomber jacket, and I’m an easy mark.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3697: Alpha Ranger

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

ALPHA RANGER

XEVOZ (HASBRO)

Do you ever have one of those moments where you see something and, like, a whole branch of memories you’ve largely forgotten just all click into place?  I mean, I guess I sort of do that a bit.  Sort of a theme of this site, isn’t it?  Am I being weird?  Probably.  But, you know, like the good sort of quirky weird, right?  Right.  So, the aforementioned “core memory unlocker” in this case is Xevoz.  If you’re not familiar (by which I mean if you weren’t a ten-to-twelve-year-old in the early ’00s who caught their two year run), Xevoz was a line of constructible action figures made by Hasbro, who licensed out the general style from Stikfas, another early ’00s line, albeit one aimed at a slightly older audience.  They were rather customizable, and each built around a core concept or idea, with a “standard” look open to variations.  They launched with minimal fanfare in early 2004, and ran four waves up through mid-2005, at which point the line ended with less fanfare than it started.  They never really had the same cultural impact of other lines, and they exist now only in my memory.  Like Leonardo DiCaprio.  Or Torengos.  Anyway, here’s a review of a Xevoz guy!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Alpha Ranger was one of the three “Basics” in Wave 1 of Xevoz.  They were the lowest price-point figures, and generally kept the parts count a little lower and the designs a little less involved.  In addition to dividing the figures into different price points, there were also different factions within the fictitious world of Xevoz.  Alpha Ranger is one of the “Neo-Sapiens”, which is what happens when you mix Keanu Reeves with Doug Jones.  Okay, not really.  Abe did wear a lot of black, though.  I’m getting sidetracked.  In actuality, they were the standard sci-fi humans of the set-up.  The Alpha Ranger’s main body set-up is made up of 15 parts, and results in a figure that stands about 6 inches tall and has 14 points of articulation.  The core, stripped-down body has him in a rather basic jump-suit, with minimal additional detailing.  In general, the line was pretty stylized and blocky, which aided with the customizing approach.  This represents a pretty standard “human” in the style, which is a neat view.  The standard build as shown in the instructions that accompany the figure uses the helmeted head, and puts on his shoulder and knee pads, as well as his chest plate and back pack.  It results in a design that’s not terribly far-removed from a Colonial Marine, which is cool by me.  Certainly fits my vibe in collecting.  I also quite enjoy the visor on the helmet, because it’s got this sort of Cyclops meets Deadshot feel, which also works for me.  There’s a handful of additional parts (though less than others, since he’s a “Basic”), including two different heads (one a basic unhelmeted look, the other one that looks a bit like a shrunken head; the second one is supposed to be this set’s “gag” piece, which was one sort of humorous piece included with each set), a smart-gun-style Pulse Cannon (complete with arm attachment), a rifle, a knife, and a pistol.  You can reconfigure stuff and swap out parts to get a number of different looks, which is especially cool if you’re looking to get an army of these guys set-up.  The paint on Xevoz was generally minimal, but what’s there works out alight.  Any additional detailing was addressed by stickers, which there were a good number of, in case you wanted extra customization.  Personally, I’m not much of a stickers guy, but it’s still cool.  There was also, like, a game that they tried with them?  You assembled this little hex-thingy, and there were stats based on the different pieces included.  I never got much into it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had a small handful of these as a kid.  I remember the KB Toys my grandmother frequently took me and my brother to had a bunch of them, and they were on clearance, so this was probably at the tail end of the run?  The Alpha Ranger was one of the ones I had.  I lost parts to most of them, and so they kind of just faded out of my memory.  It’s okay, though, because All Time came through with the save.  A collection of Xevoz got traded in, and did the previously mentioned core-memory-unlocking.  There was an Alpha Ranger, missing exactly one piece, and after a quick dig, I found that piece from my original.  It was destiny!  I’m quite happy to have him back, but now I just need to avoid jumping back in.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3696: Ultraman & Emi

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

ULTRAMAN & EMI — ULTRAMAN: RISING

S.H. FIGUARTS (BANDAI)

Every so often, I get to talk about Ultraman here, but it honestly never feels like it’s often enough.  I should be talking about Ultraman all the time!  If only there were some way for me to control what I write about here on the site…oh well.  Since I only talk about the franchise every so often, I haven’t yet gotten to discuss Ultraman: Rising, Netflix’s animated film that hit back in June.  That’s something I should really fix, because, simply put, Rising was amazing.  Genuinely loved every minute of it.  It was just a really strong break down of the core Ultraman elements packaged in an easy to approach story that works not just for me, a lifelong Ultra fan, but also for my wife and kids, who know very little about the franchise.  If you haven’t checked it out, I very much recommend it.  To, like, everyone.  Even if you don’t really know or like Ultraman.  Especially then, honestly.  More people should know and like Ultraman.  And, the coolest thing about new Ultraman media is new Ultraman toys!  The Rising designs are getting coverage in all manner of styles, and, keeping consistent with my collecting habits, I snagged the S.H. Figuarts release of main character Ken Sato as Ultraman, alongside Emi, the infant monster he finds himself responsible for raising.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultraman and Emi are a late-summer/early-fall S.H. Figurarts release for this year.  There’s technically two releases of Ultraman: this one, and one at a lower price point that cuts the Emi figure.  I get what they’re going for, but it does seem somewhat to miss the whole point of the movie to cut the Emi figure.  Why would you not want the Emi figure?  Are you some sort of silly person?  Well, there’s certainly no silly people around here!  The main Ultraman figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 38 points of articulation.  His articulation scheme is pretty standard for the Figuarts Ultras, so it’s very poseable.  I did find the joints were a little tighter on this release than some of the others I’ve snagged.  He’s based on the film’s animation models pretty directly, and he does quite a nice job of capturing Ken’s look as Ultraman.  He’s got those proper exaggerated proportions, and the detailing is all very sharply handled.  The articulation is largely worked in pretty well, with the only exception being his slightly wonky hips.  In the film, Ken’s Ultraman form is very shiny and reflective, which can be tricky to translate to a plastic figure.  This one doesn’t do so bad with it, though.  The silver’s maybe a touch flatter than it should be, but it’s cleanly applied, as is the red around it.  Everything is very crisp, and I do quite like that.  Ultraman is packed with five pairs of hands (in fists, relaxed, light gesture, wide gesture, and flat), two color timers, and three separate eye plates, allowing him to look forward, and off to either side.  I particularly love the eyes; they add so much expression to the figure!  Not to be outdone, there’s also the Emi figure included.  She’s very tiny, at just over an inch tall, and she’s got 5 whole points of articulation, which doesn’t do a ton, but it does do enough.  Though small, the sculpt is quite accurate, and she scales nicely with Ken.  She’s even got her own accessory, a little stand that goes under her tail to help her keep her balance.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, umm, did I mention that I really liked the movie?  Because I really did.  My general Ultra fandom of course loved all those parts, but in particular the whole Emi angle really hit home with me, due to my own recent experiences with fatherhood, and her particularly reminding me of Aubrey.  I knew I wanted this pair even before the movie came out, and seeing the movie only strengthened that.  This was the last of the main product to hit, so I had to be patient, and I almost caved on some of the lower price point stuff, but I didn’t, and I’m happy I waited.  This is an exceptionally fun little set, and I can’t wait to pair them with the upcoming Ultra Dad.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.