#0317: Secret Squirrel

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

SECRET SQUIRREL

HANNAH BARBERA

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“What an agent, what a squirrel. He’s got the country in a whirl. What’s his name? Shhh…Secret Squirrel!”

As I mentioned when I reviewed the Speed Racer figures, I’m quite a bit of an animation geek. When I was growing up, I spent many a day watching whatever was on Cartoon Network. So, I have quite an appreciation for the old Hannah-Barbera stuff. One of my favorite shows was Secret Squirrel. A few years ago, Jazwares picked up the license to do figures based on several Hannah-Barbera shows, and Secret Squirrel was among them.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

SecretSquirrelWilsonSecret Squirrel was released as part of the smaller scale line of Hannah-Barbera figures from Jazwares. The figure stands about 3 inches tall and features 12 points of articulation if you count his flip-up hat and the arm contained within. It’s not often I comment on articulation, but I feel the need to here. Secret’s arm articulation is really odd. The elbows are hinged to move side to side, rather than forward and back, and even though his hands are separate pieces, there is no wrist movement at all. The figure features a unique sculpt. It’s not bad, and it actually follows Secret’s design pretty well. Sadly, the hands strike again, being oddly shaped, and mostly off model. It’s not too hard to overlook, but it’s annoying. The tail is quite obviously made from two separate pieces, which they’ve made no real effort to conceal. The pieces only sort of line up, leaving a pretty noticeable seam. The paint on Secret is okay, but nothing to write home about. There’s no noticeable slop, and the finish is mostly consistent, but there’s one or two areas of bleed over, and the paint is rather thick. Secret includes a pistol and a cameral that can connect to the arm in his hat. He can hold the pistol pretty well, but the camera has a tendency to fall off the arm a lot.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Secret Squirrel is a figure I picked up several times, but could never bring myself to buy. At full price, he just didn’t seem worth it. So, I figured I’d never get one. Recently, while walking through Toys R Us, I came across Secret again, this time marked down. Thanks to TRU’s crazy summer clearance, he was 90% off, which brought his price to a whopping $0.70! For that price, I couldn’t buy him fast enough! He’s not the greatest figure, but at that price, he’s more than worth it, especially to a fan of the show.

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#0316: Kill Bill Crazy 88s Set

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , ,

CRAZY 88s

KILL BILL MINIMATES

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Even before I had seen the movie, I always thought the Crazy 88s from Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill as a pretty cool idea. When Diamond Select Toys announced the Kill Bill license would be coming to Minimates, I was immediately intrigued by the idea of getting some Crazy 88s Minimates. After seeing the movie, I was even more sold on the idea. So, without further ado, let’s see how Diamond’s take on these guys turned out!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The second set of Kill Bill Minimates continues the first set’s House of the Blue Leaves theme, but this time, instead of them main characters, it’s four members of the Crazy 88s. Just like the first set was significant for being made up of all female characters, this set is significant for being made up entirely of army builders, another rarity for Minimates.

JOHNNY MO

Crazy88s2While this is technically a set of all army builders, the first Crazy 88 in the set is actually based on a named character. The character in question in is Johnny Mo, the head of the Crazy 88s. Johnny is 2 ½ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation. The figure is depicted wearing the standard Crazy 88 uniform: black suit and tie and a Kato mask. It’s the only thing we see Johnny wearing, so it’s obviously a sensible choice. He’s built on the standard Minimate body, with the addition of a suit jacket and a tie, seen on numerous previous figures. The suit jacket has one small change; there’s a hole in the back near the bottom, which has been put there to allow Johnny to be placed on the leaping stand.  Johnny’s paint apps aren’t anything amazing, per say, but they are pretty good. The detailing on the face and mask are superb. They’ve chosen to give him a screaming expression. While it might have been nice to get a more reserved expression too, given the choice of only one, this is the one I’d go for. It works really well in an action pose, especially when coupled with the leaping stand. There’s one more painted detail on the figure that’s really easy to miss. On the back of the torso block, there’s a blood splatter. This means you can flip the torso around to depict the 88s from later in the fight. It’s a really cool touch that shows Diamond’s commitment to making these figures as fun as possible.

CRAZY 88 #2

Crazy88s3This is the first of the “generic” 88s in the set. He’s not based on any one in particular, although he does bear a resemblance to one of the 88s present during the “power walk” at the House of the Blue Leaves. Since he doesn’t have a name, and I don’t want to refer to him as #2 for the whole review, let’s just call him Topher. Just like Johnny, Topher stands 2 ½ inches tall and sports 14 points of articulation. He’s built on the standard Minimate body, with the addition of the suit jacket, the tie, and a hair piece. The hairpiece was first seen on the TRU exclusive Harada from The Wolverine and the jacket and tie are the same oft used pieces seen on Johnny. Unlike Johnny, Topher’s jacket hasn’t been altered to allow for the jumping stand. The paint work on Topher is nice and clean. He’s been given a slightly more reserved expression than Johnny, though he does still have a slight grimace, which means he’ll still be right at home in a fight scene. On the back of his torso, he features a blood splatter unique from the one seen on Johnny. This one is a bit more sparse, but still really cool!

CRAZY 88 #3

Crazy88s4Here’s Crazy 88 #3, whom I’ll now be calling Treat. Treat is another generic 88. He’s about 2 ½ inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation. He too is built on the standard Minimate body, as well as the suit and tie seen on the others and a hairpiece stolen from Thunderstrike, who was in Series 42 of Marvel Minimates. Like Topher, his jacket is unaltered, so no crazy jumps for him! The hairpiece is a somewhat unique one, so it brings some character to an otherwise basic figure. Treat’s facial expression is more intense that Topher’s, but not the full yell that’s been given to Johnny. He’s got more of a vicious snarl going, which definitely adds some diversity to the facial expressions on these guys. Like the others, Treat has a blood splatter on the flip side of his torso. His is much more severe looking than the other’s. Looks like Treat’s a goner!

CRAZY 88 #4

Crazy88s5Last up is Crazy 88 #4, henceforth known as Foreman. Foreman is the final generic Crazy 88 in the set. He stands 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. Just like everyone else in the set, he’s built on the standard Minimate body. In addition to the basic body, he’s also got the suit and tie pieces, as well as a poofy hairpiece, courtesy of Egon from the Ghostbusters line. Like Topher and Treat before him, Foreman’s jacket has been left unaltered, so he doesn’t get to do all the fun flips and jumps that Johnny does. He’s very sad about that. I’m not sure about the hair. It works for Egon, but it seems out of place here. Foreman has the most generic expression in the set. It’s just a basic gritted teeth look, which is actually really great to have in the set. He also ends up with the most basic blood splatter of the four. It’s pretty much just a straight streak of blood.

THE EXTRAS!

Crazy88s7This set, by nature of being an army building set, doesn’t come accessories that really correspond to one figure in particular. There are two exceptions: the leaping stand and the bamboo swords are pretty clearly meant to go with Johnny Mo. However if you aren’t displaying as Johnny, that would change. Beyond that, there’s a clear display stand for each of the four figures, two extra heads, two motor cycle helmets, three extra hairpieces, two axes, and four katana. The stands are the same ones we’ve seen before, but I can’t stress how cool it is that we’re getting them with every release now. The heads allow more variety if you’re in the army building mood, offering a female head, which makes use of the same hair as Gogo, and a more calm male head, which has hair from the Peter Parker released in Series 46 of Marvel Minimates. The three hair pieces add even more to the variety of display options, and they are reused from DC Minimates’ Nightwing, Marvel Zombies’ Hulk, and Marvel Minimates Series 27’s Ultimate Captain America. The helmets allow you to recreate the fantastic chase scene, which was set to the always awesome “Flight of the Bumblebee” most commonly remembered as the theme to the 60s Green Hornet. The helmet was originally meant to be part of Marvel Minimates series 15, but as that’s the only series of Marvel Minimates ever to be cancelled, it never saw release. It’s nice to see it finally show up here! The axes and katana are both re-use as well, but it’s very sensible re-use, and it’s great to have several weapon options. If the figures weren’t already great enough, the accessory compliment really adds to the set’s cool factor!

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THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up this set, along with the other Kill Bill set, from my favorite Minimates retailer, Luke’s Toy Store. I was onboard for this set even before I saw the movie, but my excitement definitely increased once I had. Initially, I thought this set might be a little dull, what with it being four figures who are identical from the neck down, and not tremendously different from the neck up. Dull is the last word I would use to describe this set after getting it in hand. This set is a testament to how to build a successful collection of figures using almost no new pieces. The set has so many extra pieces, I’d even say it’s one of those rare sets that almost can’t be appreciated until you have more than one!

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#0315: Kill Bill House of the Blue Leaves Set

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

THE BRIDE, O-REN ISHII, SOFIE FATALE & GOGO YUBARI,

KILL BILL MINIMATES

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My love for Minimates is no secret. They are, without a doubt, one of my favorite toylines. I am such a fan of Minimates that I sometimes buy Minimates from movies I’ve never seen. In some cases, I’ll even go so far as to watch the movie, as a further excuse to buy the Minimates. That’s kind of the case with today’s Minimates, based on Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill. Based on the fact that there were going to be Minimates, coupled with a recommendation from a few friends, I finally got around to seeing the movie. And then I HAD to have the Minimates. So, here they are. By nature of some of the pieces and details in the set, this review contains SPOILERS for Kill Bill Vol. 1.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The first set of Kill Bill Minimates is based on the battle at the House of the Blue Leaves, the climactic battle from Kill Bill Vol. 1. The set includes The Bride, O-Ren Ishii, Sofie Fatale, and Gogo Yubari. The cool thing about this set is that it’s entirely made up of female characters, which is a pretty serious rarity for not just Minimates, but toys in general.

THE BRIDE

KillBill1bThe Bride is the main character of Kill Bill, though not the title one. In the first film she just goes by “The Bride” until her name is revealed at the very end, so the Minimate is just “The Bride” as well. The Bride is about 2 ½ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation. She’s based on the character’s yellow jump-suited look during the final battle in Volume 1, which is in turn based on a similar outfit worn by Bruce Lee in The Game of Death. She makes use of the standard Minimate body, with the addition of a brand-new hairpiece. The hairpiece is well sculpted and does a nice job of translating The Bride’s hair from this point in the movie. Most of The Bride’s details are handled via paint apps, which look great. The black detail lines are all nice and cleanly applied, and the Uma Thurman likeness is superb. The Bride is meant to represent her mid-fight with the Crazy 88s, so in addition to the basic jumpsuit details, she also features quite a few blood spatters. The spatters are all really well detailed, and they seem to line up pretty much perfectly with the stains from the movie. The Bride includes her genuine Hattori Hanzo sword and a scabbard to match, as well as a clear display stand.

O-REN ISHII

KillBill1cO-Ren is the first person on the list of people she has to kill before getting to the eponymous Bill (though she’s actually the second person on the list we see The Bride kill. Yay flashbacks!). She serves as the primary antagonist of Volume 1. O-Ren is about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation, though the skirt renders the leg articulation mostly useless. O-Ren is depicted in her white kimono from the final battle at the House of the Blue Leaves. She makes use of the base body as a starting point, with long sleeved lower arms in place of the standard ones, as well as add-ons for her hair and the lower portion of the kimono. The kimono pieces are re-use from Mariko, released in Series 52 of the Marvel Minimates line. They’re basic, but that works pretty well for the desired look. The hair appears to be a brand-new piece, and it accurately represents O-Ren’s look in the movie. O-Ren’s paint apps are nowhere near as complex as those seen on The Bride, but they’re not bad. The kimono details on her torso wrap all the way around, plus she has full detailing on her feet. Her face is the spitting image of Lucy Lui, who portrays O-Ren in the movie. One issue, which I am certain is exclusive to my figure, is that there’s a slight malformation of the hair, which has been painted with a flesh tone, making it extremely obvious. It mars an otherwise great figure, but it’s nothing a quick dab of paint can’t fix [EDIT: an astute reader has pointed out that this spot is more likely meant to be the flower present in O-Ren’s hair in the movie, meaning it’s not a mistake at all!]. O-Ren includes a sword with a scabbard, as well as a clear display stand and an alternate hairpiece, depicting her…final moments.

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SOFIE FATALE

KillBill1fSofie Fatale serves as O-Ren’s right hand woman. She’s also one of three people to make it out of the fight at the House of the Blue Leaves alive, though she certainly doesn’t come out of it unscathed.  She stands roughly 2 ½ inches tall and sports 14 points of articulation, but once again the leg articulation is constricted by the skirt. Sofie is presented here in her gray-blue dress from the fight at the House of the Blue Leaves. It’s not the most interesting look, but it’s in keeping with the rest of the set, so it’s a good choice. She’s built on the usual body, with a basic long skirt add-on, as well as a new hairpiece. At least, I think it’s new. It looks sort of familiar, but I can’t find any previous uses of it. It’s a well sculpted piece, and does a nice job translating Sofie’s tightly tied back hair. Sofie ends up with the least painted details in the set, with only some basic work on her face, the front of her torso and her shoes. Everything seems to be pretty cleanly applied, which is good, but it’s not the most exciting Minimate. Sofie includes a cellphone and a clear display stand. Yep, in a set full of swords, she gets a phone. I do kind of wish we had gotten some sort of wounded arm accessory, just to spice the figure up a little, but oh well.

GOGO YUBARI

KillBill1gGogo is O-Ren’s personal body guard. She also happens to be a Japanese school girl, and is one of the most ruthless characters in Kill Bill. Which seems about right for a teenage girl, if I’m honest (I kid). She stands about 2 ½ inches tall and has 14 points of articulation. Gogo is depicted here in her schoolgirl outfit, which I believe is the only thing she’s ever shown wearing, so there. She makes use of the standard Minimate body, with short skirt and hair add-ons. Both pieces ore re-use. The hair is from the TRU exclusive Gwen Stacy from the first Amazing Spider-Man, and the skirt I believe originated on BSG’s President Roslin. Both pieces work well for Gogo, so it’s a good re-use. Gogo’s paint apps are quite nice. They aren’t quite as clean as those on The Bride and O-Ren, but they aren’t bad, and she has some tremendous detail work on the skirt, which is plaid, and the jacket, which has faint pocket lines. Gogo includes a flail, which I believe is a new piece, a clear display stand, and an extra head with blood running from the eyes to depict her death scene. It’s kinda cool, but also a bit morbid, which seems right for the set.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When this set was initially announced, I wasn’t really all that interested. It just seemed a bit boring. However, once I actually sat down and watched the movies, I was immediately eager to get this set. Initially, I just wanted this set for The Bride, but actually having them in hand, I think the whole set is really worth the purchase. This is probably the definitive version of The Bride, plus you get O-Ren, who’s pivotal to the first movie, and Gogo, who’s just kinda cool. Sure, Sofie’s not the most interesting Minimate, but she’s not terrible. Add to that the impressive paint apps on all of the figures and the cool extra pieces, and you’ve really got a winning set!

#0314: Atlas

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

ATLAS

PORTAL 2 (NECA)

Atlas

I’m not much of a video gamer. It’s not to say I don’t enjoy playing them, but I’m not devoted like some. One of the big things that does pull me into a game is multiplayer capability and cooperative modes. One of the best Co-op modes in recent years has to be Portal 2, which really hits home the need for the players to, you know, cooperate. My brother Christian and I had a great time playing through the game, and we both wanted a set of the figures based on the Co-op mode’s stars, Atlas and P-Body. Christian’s already taken a look at his set, and now it’s time for me to look at mine. I looked at P-Body yesterday, now let’s look at the other half of this dynamic robotic duo, Atlas!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

AtlasWilsonAtlas was released in tandem with P-Body in the second series of Portal 2 figures from NECA. Atlas is a little shorter than P-Body at just over 7 inches tall and he features 15 points of articulation. Possibly more, but it’s a bit hard to tell with this figure. I’m hesitant to move some pieces, given the fragility of the design. Just like P-Body, Atlas features an all-new sculpt. It looks like a pretty straight recreation of Atlas’s design from the game. All the details look spot on, which is really great. Again, like P-Body, the sculpt and design lead to some decreased articulation, which is annoying, but comes with the territory. The design of the lower legs and feet also makes Atlas a bit wobbly, so he has a tendency to shelf dive. The paintwork on Atlas is all pretty clean. There’s a few areas of fuzzy lines, and a few small instances of bleed over, but overall it looks pretty good. Atlas adds a light up feature to the list of traits shared with P-body. Atlas’s light seems a bit dimmer than P-Body’s, which seems more accurate to the game. Still not something I see being left on long term, but cool nonetheless. Atlas also includes a portal gun, which has been detailed with blues to match Atlas’s color scheme and lights up a nice purple color.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Atlas was part of a set with P-Body, which I purchased from Big Bad Toy Store. Even though I’m ususally the second player, aka P-Body, I have to admit I think Atlas features the better design. It just seems to work a bit better. The figure is a very nice representation of that design. Stability issues aside, it’s a pretty great figure, certainly worth the purchase if you’re a fan of the game.

Atlas&P-Body

Reader’s Choice Poll

Posted by Ethan Wilson in General

By now I’m sure you’ve all gotten a chance to check out The Official Figure in Question Shop.  The first three designs put up for sale were my personal favorites, but I don’t want to be the only ne with any say in the matter.  So, I’m passing the decision onto you, my loyal readers, to decide what next month’s designs will be.  Everybody gets two votes, and the top two designs will be put up for sale on September 13th.  Voting ends September 12th, 11:59 pm est.

-Poll Closed-

Winners: Buck System & Bleed Over

 

DisplayStandDayOfBuckSystemBleedOver ArticulationBoxedSetadd-onHeavyHitter

#0313: P-Body

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

P-BODY

PORTAL 2 (NECA)

P-Body

Guest reviews are still something I’m getting used to on this site, I must say. I’ve had them for a little while, but for the most part Tim and Christian have their own interests separate from mine. Believe it or not, there’s some cross over, which means, occasionally, one of them will own a figure I do. This creates the issue of duplicate reviews, an issue I’m facing today. See, Christian and I received our Atlas and P-Body figures at the same time. He was very excited about them and asked if he could do some guest reviews. Obviously, I obliged. I also didn’t want to steal his thunder, so I pushed my own reviews back a little. Thing is, I don’t really know that I have any new ground to cover here, so I’ve actually been pushing these two back for over a month. I’ve finally given in, so here goes. Let’s start with P-Body.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

P-BodyWilsonP-Body was released as part of what I’d guess you’d call the second series of Portal 2 figures from NECA. According to Christian, P-Body’s a girl, which seems weird to me, but I guess if you have to assign genders to inanimate objects, P-Body could be a “girl.” P-Body is about 7 ½ inches tall and features 17 points of articulation. The sculpt is totally unique to P-Body, and I believe it may have been built from a 3D model of the character. Everything looks pretty much spot-on to the design from the game, so that’s all pretty good. The sculpt does limit what you can do with the articulation, but that’s not too surprising, given the design and scale. P-Body’s paint seems to be pretty clean over all. There’s a fuzzy line here or there, but nothing too bad. P-Body has a light-up feature. By pushing the button the figure’s back, you can enable the light up eye, which will stay-on until the button is pushed again. It seems just a tad bright to look right, plus it’s battery powered, so I can’t see many people leaving it on long term. Still, it’s a cool feature. P-Body includes a portal gun, painted to match the figure. It also lights up, via the same type of mechanism.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got P-Body as part of a set with Atlas online. Christian had found P-Body at Toys R Us and was wanting an Atlas, so I ordered the set so we could both save on shipping. So, yeah…

Anyway, I was always second player, so I suppose I can kind of connect with P-Body. It’s a pretty great translation of the design to action figure form, and for $25 it’s pretty much a win!

#0312: Hoban Washburne

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

HOBAN WASHBURNE

FIREFLY REACTION

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Back in January, I took a look at the first entry in the ReAction Figures line, produced jointly by Funko and Super 7. Those first figures were based on the unreleased prototypes from Kenner’s ALIEN line. When Funko stepped in to handle distribution of Super 7’s line, they also brought with them their vast catalogue of movie and TV licenses. Together, Funko and Super 7 have launched a wide variety of figures under the ReAction banner, spanning several decades of properties, all in the vintage style. One of the properties I was most excited for was Joss Whedon’s Firefly, a show that, up until now, has been mostly lacking in action figures. The Firefly figures from the ReAction line have just been released, and I picked up my personal favorite character, Hoban Washburne, better known as Wash!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

WashWilsonWash is part of the first series of Firefly ReAction Figures. Wash is 3 ¾ inches in height and features the standard 5 points of articulation. Wash sported many looks over the course of the series, so there’s a lot to choose from. He’s depicted here in a brown jumpsuit with a blue and green Hawaiian over it. I don’t know exactly which episode he wears this combo in, but it suits the character perfectly. This is exactly what comes to mind when I think of the character. Unlike the ALIEN figures, which were previously existing sculpts, the Firefly figures are brand-new sculpts from Super 7 and Funko. Wash’s sculpt appears to be unique to him. It’s a pretty good sculpt, given the style they were going for. I was surprised by how well they captured Alan Tudyk’s likeness, given the figure’s more simple nature. The sculpt’s weak point is the figure’s torso, which just seems far too flat and devoid of any actual body shape. It’s not horrible, but it’s a bit distracting. Overall, the sculpt actually reminds me of Fisher Price’s Adventure People line, rather than the vintage Star Wars look they were going for. The lines are from the same time period and they are fairly similar, but there are some discerning details. Wash’s paint is in keeping with the simplistic look that Funko and Super 7 are going for, without being too simple. Everything looks rather clean, and he’s got some pretty great detailing on the Hawaiian shirt. The eyes being the same color as the eyebrows caught me off guard, but it’s actually in keeping with the Kenner style. Wash includes two small dinosaurs: a T-Rex and a stegosaurs. I can’t think of a better set of accessories for the character, and they fit perfectly in his hands. His is an evil laugh!

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THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I mentioned above, Wash was my favorite character from the show, by far. I was always quite bummed that he wasn’t amongst the small selection of characters to receive a figure in the Serenity line. I was overjoyed to hear he would be amongst the first set of figures Funko would be releasing. When my local comicbook store, Cosmic Comix, received the first series of figures, Wash was the one I had to get. The figure is really quite cool in person, and I can’t wait to get the rest of the crew. I know that this style isn’t for everyone, but I really hope that Funko sees fit to release a second series with Simon, River, Book, and Inara!

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#0311: Marvel’s Cyclops

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

MARVEL’S CYCLOPS

MARVEL LEGENDS INFINITE SERIES

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Ever since I first got into the marvelous mutants of the X-Men, I’ve been a pretty big fan of Cyclops. Well, the idea of Cyclops, I suppose. His powers are cool, and he’s been graced with some of the cooler costume designs in comics. In the 90s, every X-Man got a figure, and Cyclops even got several. They were of varying quality, but I had just about all of them, and I loved them all. When Marvel figures moved to the 6-inch scale with Marvel Legends, I patiently awaited that awesome figure that would live up to my expectations of good ol’ one-eye. Sadly, while Toybiz did eventually produce a Cyclops, it was far from what I’d hoped. Cyclops made a few more appearances in the Marvel Legends style, but none of them did much for me. I recently picked up my first Cyclops figure in what feels like forever, courtesy of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends Infinite Series.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

CyclopsNowWilsonThis version of Cyclops was released in the recent X-Men themed series of Marvel Legends Infinite Series. The series is done to loosely tie-in with Days of Future Past, and it is exclusive to Toys R Us. Cyclops stands a little over 6 inches tall and features 32 points of articulation. He’s based on the character’s “Marvel Now!” look. Well, one of them anyway. There are currently two versions of Scott Summers running around the Marvel universe. This one’s the older one. He’s all surly. According to the back of the box, Scott has lost control of his powers. Well, more so than before, I guess. What that means design-wise is that instead of the traditional visor we’ve all grown accustomed to, Scott now has a big red “X” on his face. Yay comics! Cyclops is built on Hasbro’s new standard male buck, used on figures such as Boomerang and Zemo. It’s a pretty decent, medium-build type body that works for a lot of characters, so that’s cool. Scott also has a pair of fists stolen from the recent Nova figure, as well as an all-new head sculpt and belt add-on. The head is actually a very nice sculpt. The X-visor has been etched in place, and Scott’s been given a facial expression that befits his older, surlier self. The belt is a basic belt with pouches, but it’s well sculpted, so that’s cool. It’s generic enough that I could see Hasbro putting it to use elsewhere. The rest of Scott’s details are handled via paint. The figure is CyclopsNow2molded in black, with red, orange, and flesh-tone paint providing the various details. The paint is fairly cleanly applied, but it’s not perfect. The red lines on his costume are pretty good, but his visor’s a bit of a mess. It seems like the paint didn’t want to stay in the lines. In addition, the “x” on Scott’s belt is off center, once again failing to follow the sculpted line work. Still, this isn’t as bad as some Hasbro efforts, and the figure does end up looking better as a whole. Cyclops’s only accessory is the arm to this Series’ Build-A-Figure, Jubilee. I don’t know why, but for some reason this BaF figure piece seems more morbid tan previous ones.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

In all honesty, I was not a fan of this Cyclops design when it was first revealed. But, as other artists (read: NOT Joe Quesada) started to draw it, I actually kind of warmed up to it a bit. It’s one of those rare modern costumes that doesn’t suffer from being too over-designed. So, when this series of Marvel Legends was announced, I was a little bit interested in the figure, but I wasn’t 100% sold.

The other day, I had a rough day at work, and decided to stop by my local TRU, just to see what they had. I found the remnants of a case of this series. All that was left were two Wolverines and this guy. In person, I was even more impressed with the costume’s design, and so I decided, what the heck, I’ll go for it. To be honest, he’s probably the best Marvel Legends version of Scott produced. Also, now I kinda want to finish Jubilee, but that means I’ll have to buy a Stryfe figure. I’m not sure I’m ready for that…

CyclopsNow3ALT

#0310: Daredevil – Yellow

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

DAREDEVIL – YELLOW

SPIDER-MAN CLASSICS

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In the 90s, Toybiz was king of the toy aisles with their expansive selection of action figures based on characters from the Marvel Universe. Eventually, opinions and expectations of toys began to change. Toybiz wanted to stay at the top, so they changed with the times. In an effort to tie into the hype of the character’s first foray onto the big screen, Toybiz launched Spider-Man Classics, a line that upped the scale, the detail, and the articulation. The second series of the line introduced not only an outreach to other corners of the Marvel universe with the character Daredevil, but also the very first instance of something that would become a staple of future Toybiz lines: the Variant. A slight change to one of the figures in the series, packed at one to a case. The figure immediately caught collector, and scalper, attention and its price sky-rocketed on the aftermarket. What was this figure everyone had to have? Yellow Daredevil!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

YellowDaredevilWilsonDaredevil was released in the second series of Spider-Man Classics. This figure is the variant of the regular Daredevil, dubbed “Yellow Daredevil” because it’s based on Daredevil’s first appearance costume, which was predominantly yellow. The figure is 6 inches tall and sports 30 points of articulation, a point that is proudly boasted on the figure’s packaging. Daredevil’s sculpt makes use of the basic body sculpt of Black Spider-Man from the first series, with a new head, hands, feet, as well as an add-on for his billy-club holster. The sculpt hasn’t aged all that well. The body is long and lanky, and the hands and feet are a bit on the large side. For the time, it was pretty impressive, though. The head sculpt is one piece that still manages to look pretty good. It’s a bit exaggerated, but it works. I will admit I also really like the sculpted tread around the bottom of his feet. It does a lot to make the figure stand out from the Black Spider-Man it was based on. Daredevil’s paint is a bit of a mixed bag. There’s some great detail work, and they’ve done some cool things to make the design pop. I do like the slight occurrences of red on the black areas, which is a nice way of paying tribute to the red highlights he was often seen with. However, the figure shows quite a bit of slop, uneven paint application, and a few very fuzzy lines. These aren’t immediately apparent, but do crop up with a tiny bit of examination. It becomes a bit more forgivable when you remember these figures had a retail of $7. Daredevil includes his billy-club, a wall mountable display stand that looks like a stained glass window, and a copy of Daredevil #241.

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THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Yellow Daredevil figure has for quite some time been one of my personal grails. For whatever reason, I’ve always been fascinated with the design. When word of this figure first broke out, I was eager to get one. In fact, my Dad made it his mission to try and find me one. Sadly, we were never able to find one on the shelves. As the original “variant figure” the figure maintained a hefty value on the aftermarket. More than once I picked one up at a convention, only to be told the price (usually well over $100), which would lead to do the “back away slowly” move. Years passed and I pretty much gave up. Instead, I resigned to just get every other figure of Yellow Daredevil (which incidentally led to my getting into Minimates, but that’s a story for another time). A few weeks ago, my local comicbook store Cosmic Comix posted on their site that they had gotten in a pretty large collection of figures, and they would be selling them for a set price. I got there to pick up my comics and looked over the table of figures. I found one or two, but nothing really jumped out at me. I walked up to the counter and the owner, who knows I’m a big action figure collector, asked if I’d like to look at the more expensive figures before they were officially priced. This is a scary idea for me, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to look. I moved one figure from the top of the stack, and there was Yellow Daredevil. As it turns out, he’s actually gone down a bit in price in the last few years. On top of that, the owner agreed to cut me a pretty great deal. So, I got the figure I’ve been trying to find for 13 years, and I got him for a pretty reasonable price. Is he the perfect figure? No. There’s some definite flaws. But, to me, he’s more than just a figure, he’s an accomplishment.  After all that time, I’m just glad to finally have this figure.

And yes, I took him out of the box. Deal.

#0309: Amy Pond

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

AMY POND

DOCTOR WHO

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Continuing the Guardians of the Galaxy theme, I’ll be moving on to a figure of one of the movie’s main baddies, Nebula. What’s that? …I’m being told there’s no Nebula figure. Ummm, well this is awkward. Hmmm. Perhaps I can arrange some sort of replacement! Wouldn’t you know it, Karen Gillan just so happens to have an action figure from another toyline? That sure is convenient!

Okay, so it’s actually just dumb luck that Amy was the next on my list of figures to review. I totally hadn’t realized until I sat down to write the intro that Karen Gillan was also in Guardians. That amused me. If nothing else, this site is here to amuse me. So, yes, today I’ll be looking at a figure of Amy Pond, the first companion of the 11th Doctor!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

AmyPondWilsonAmy was released as part of the first series of 11th Doctor-themed figures in Underground Toys’ Doctor Who line. The figure stands roughly 5 inches tall and features 18 points of articulation. Amy had a few different appearances on the show, but the figure seems to be based on what she wore right after she started travelling with the Doctor. I don’t know specifically when she wore this, but it seems to properly capture the essence of Amy. Amy features an all-new sculpt, and it’s a pretty good one. The proportions on the body look pretty good, nothing being too exaggerated. The likeness of the sculpt seems to be pretty spot on to Karen Gillan, but it is a bit difficult to tell, thanks to the paint. Ah, the paint. If I had one real complaint about the figure, it would be the paint. It’s not bad, mind you. No, it stays in the lines, and offer some pretty good detail work. The biggest issue is that her skin tone just seems off. It’s got a sort of a greenish hue to it, which makes her seem unnatural. It doesn’t ruin the figure, but it makes her seem…off. Amy included no accessories, though given my experience with Doctor Who figures, this is no surprise.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, in addition to what was brought up in the intro, there’s another connection between this figure and the Guardians figures. This figure also was given to me by Super Awesome Girlfriend! She’s the one that gets me all my Doctor Who stuff, and this was no exception. Although the 10th Doctor is my favorite version of the Doctor, Amy and Rory are my favorite companions. Sadly, Amy carries quite the hefty price tag on the aftermarket, which meant I didn’t think I’d be getting one anytime soon. While walking through the dealer’s room at Shoreleave, my girlfriend pointed out the figure for a reasonable price and seemed dead-set on me getting it. Eventually she gave up trying to convince me to buy it and just bought it for me. Because she’s awesome.

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