#0192: Jawas

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JAWAS

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II

Kenner’s Power of the Force II was a very important to my toy collection. The line first hit in 1995, when I was 3 and just beginning to get into action figures. Needless to say, I ended up with quite the selection of figures from the line. One of my favorite subsets of creatures from the original Star Wars was always the Jawas. For some reason, I just love those little guys! So, today’s review covers POTF II’s release of those.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The Jawas were released as part of the 1996 assortment of POFT II figures. They were released as a pair to make up for their smaller stature. The taller one stands about 3 ¼ inches tall and has 5 points of articulation. The shorter one is about 2 ¾ inches, and has 4 points of articulation. In both cases, I’m counting the neck as a point of articulation, but there isn’t very much motion that can be gotten out of either. The sculpts are both pretty good for the time. The taller one is a little bit more detailed, but that’s not too surprising given the difference in size. However, the smaller one still has some very nice detail work. The paint on the pair is fairly basic, but everything is cleanly applied, with no noticeable slop on either figure. Both figures also have a light-piping feature, which allows their eyes to light up. It’s a bit obvious where the clear plastic is on the heads, so I could see some people being annoyed by this. I’m not really bugged by it, but I chalk that up to nostalgia.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t remember exactly when or where I got this pair, but I know it wasn’t too long after I got Dagobah Luke. If I recall correctly, they were bought for me by my Mom, while we were out on an excursion together. I always really liked these figures, and I do seem to recall the taller one getting a spare lightsaber, and thereby being a Jedi-Jawa!

 

Incidentally, my brother Christian had a quick comment about these figures while I was reviewing them:

“This figure likes to go MARTINI too many damn times. I don’t see why they made this figure. It’s a piece of SHIET! Why do I need to feel bad about my life when I already have the war to care about?”

Yeah, he’s a bit on the strange side…

#0191: Charles Tucker

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CHARLES TUCKER

ENTERPRISE (ART ASYLUM)

So, I believe I’ve mentioned my controversial opinion of Star Trek: Enterprise on the site before, but for those who didn’t know: yes, I am a fan of it. It’s actually my favorite series after The Original Series and Next Generation. Sure, it wasn’t the greatest show, and there are some downright horrible episodes, but I do kinda like it. I think part of what I liked may have been the show’s action figures, produced by then up-and-coming company Art Asylum.  They did two waves of figures, the first based on the show’s pilot episode, and the second based on some of the crew’s away team looks. Today, I’ll be doing a review of the show’s chief of engineering, Charles “Trip” Tucker.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Trip is from the second series of the line, and is presented here in his EV, or Environmental, suit. The figure stands about 7 inches tall and has 22 points of articulation. The sculpted work on the figure is really quite nice. There’s lots of great details on the figure, and he features separate helmet and torso pieces that can be removed, which adds some very nice depth to the EV suit. The head sculpt looks pretty much spot on to actor Connor Trinneer, who played Trip on the show.  The paint work is not quite as good as the sculpt, but it’s not terrible.  The worst of it seems to be on the head, which has some pretty bad bleed over from the skin into the hair. Said skin is also very yellow, which gives Trip an unhealthy look. The paint on the EV suit is a lot better, and actually has some pretty cool details, especially on the chest piece. Trip includes a removable helmet and chest piece, and one of the weird coins that Art Asylum was including with all their figures at the time. So, yeah…

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, there’s actually a story to how I got this one. I was in the dealer’s room at ShoreLeave, a local sci-fi convention, and I found this figure from the resident action figure dealer. This guy was at a lot of the conventions, and had seen me lots of times before, what with me buying lots and lots of action figures. I really wanted the figure, but I didn’t have any money with me. So, one of the guys working the table walked the figure down with me so I could find my dad. When we found him, the guy walked up to my dad, who was definitely in the middle of something else at the time, and told him he needed to buy the figure for me. They offered to knock several dollars off the price as a “frequent-buyer’s discount.” My dad actually bought the figure for me, in spite of what most normal, sane, and rational people would do. Because he’s just that cool.

#0190: Ultraman Leo

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ULTRAMAN LEO

ULTRA-ACT

After doing a decently sized string of reviews from the line back in January, my Ultra-Act reviews certainly do seem to have slowed down a bit, haven’t they? The last one I did was Father of Ultra, and that was way back in February. One of the cool things about Ultraman is the plethora of different Ultras and all of their unique takes on the common design themes. Today, I’ll be taking a look at Ultraman Leo, the 7th main Ultraman, and star of Ultraman Leo. I know; what a shock.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultraman Leo is one of the very first of the 2014 releases for the Ultra-Act line. As per usual for this line, he’s not part of a series or the like, just a singlerelease on his own. This is Leo’s second release in this line, and this one has been made to fit in a bit better with some of the more recent releases. The figure is a little taller than some of the others, though not quite as tall as Father of Ultra, standing about 6 ¼ inches tall. He features the standard 40 points of articulation that most of this line’s figures sports. Leo has been bulked up a bitfrom his previous figure, in an aim to keep him more in line with the current line’s releases. The sculpt is pretty good overall, and re-creates Leo’s look in the show really well. The paint apps are applied cleanly, with no bleed over or slop. Bandai looks to be trying a new technique of detailing, through a sort of air-brushing. It’s a subtle touch, but it looks pretty good and gives the figure a bit more depth. As with all other Ultra-Act releases, Leo has a large compliment of accessories, including: an extra color-timer, a pin-wheel (yeah, I don’t really know what that’s for), Ultra-Mant defense umbrella, 2 sets of nun-chucks (with and without real chain), a gold arm-band, a Leo-Kick effect, and 14 hands: fists (L and R), open gesture (L and R), open flat (Land R), karate-chop (L and R), nun-chuck gripping (L and R), umbrella grip (R), pin-wheel grip (R), Fire-Blast (R), and fire charging (works for either). That’s quite an impressive set of accessories. The color timer is standard, the pin-wheel and umbrella are definitely unique, the nun-chucks are great for letting you choose how to display them, and the hands add some real expression to the character. The piece for the Leo-kick is cool and all, but if you don’t have a stand, the best you can pull off is the “eek, my foot is on fire” look.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Leo was pre-ordered through Amazon. I guess it was relatively painless, though it did mark the first time they’ve sent me an e-mail effectively saying “we have no idea where this figure is, so we can’t guarantee we’ll get this to you… ever” for something I’ve ordered. As you can see, it worked out all right. I wasn’t quite as excited for Leo as I have been for others, but he’s a good figure over all.

#0189: The Demon, Etrigan

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THE DEMON, ETRIGAN

DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS

Ah, yes, DC Universe Classics. A line I loved and hated. I love most of the figures, but I grew to hate Mattel, the producers of the line, more and more as every series went by. This figure goes back to the happier times, way back in Series 1, before things went to crap.

The character in question is The Demon, Etrigan, a character created by Jack Kirby in 1972. He was originally Sir Jason Blood, a knight in King Arthur’s court, who was bound with the demon by Merlin. Jason became immortal, and had the ability to summon the Demon’s form by reciting “Gone, gone the form of man. Rise the demon, Etrigan!” The character had prominent appearances in Batman: The Animated Series and Justice League, if you want to check those out.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Etrigan was released in the first series of DC Universe Classics. I always have found this to be an interesting choice, given the character’s relative obscurity, but I suppose Mattel wanted to show they intended to go pretty obscure with the line. He has 23 points of articulation is is just shy of 7 inches tall. DCUC was usually heavily dependent on the Buck System, but Etrigan actually had an almost entirely unique sculpt. The only thing I believe was ever reused is the upper torso piece, which I believe was later see on some of the Collect-N-Connect figures such as Atom Smasher. Etrigan’s sculpt is a truly impressive piece of work by Mattel’s oft-used sculpting team The Four Horsemen. The skin has some wonderful texture work, and the sleeves and cape are nicely tattered. Etrigan’s lower arms and hands are a bit rubbery, but nowhere near as bad as some later entries in the line. The paint work on Etrigan looks great. All the basic paintwork is clean, no slop or bleed over. He also features several washes, which really help to bring out the details of the sculpt. Etrigan’s only accessory is the left arm of Metamorpho, the C-N-C of series 1. Etrigan doesn’t really have anything that would work as an accessory, and he’s a bit bigger than the typical figure, so it’s understandable.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had initially not planned on purchasing Etrigan, or really getting into DCUC at all. The line-up was mostly figures I already had in some form or another, and most of Mattel’s previous DC work had been lackluster at best. DC Direct seemed to be killing it with their more expansive offering of DC figures. But then, Mattel announced the next two series of figures. Specifically, they announced Series 3’s Green Lantern, which quickly caught my attention. So, I gave the first series a second look, and found that several of them were actually quite good. I found Etrigan and two of his compatriots at my local Target and picked them up, effectively creating a monster. Yay.

#0188: Eric the Red

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ERIC THE RED

X-MEN (TOYBIZ)

Eric the Red was a famous Viking, known for being the father of—wait, sorry. That’s not the right Eric the Red. Right. Umm… Eric the Red was an alias used by X-Man Cyclops in order to infiltrate a group of villains so he could rescue the rest of the X-Men. What? Still not right? Hang on….

Here it is: Eric the Red was a member of the Shi’ar Empire, the alien race most notable for really hating the Phoenix. He actually stole the identity from Cyclops, for reasons unknown, and used Shi’ar tech to mind control Havok and Polaris into battling the current team of X-Men. Mostly, he’s known for his appearances in the 90s X-Men cartoon during the show’s version of The Phoenix Saga, which is what earned him this figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Eric the Red was released in the “Invasion Series” of ToyBiz’s X-Men line. In all honesty, I’m a bit surprised he wasn’t part of the wave meant to tie-in to The Phoenix Saga, but I guess ToyBiz was just making everything X-Men related at the time. The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and has 7 points of articulation. That’s a bit less than the norm, mostly due to his lack of knee joints. I’m not really sure why he’s missing them, but they do cause him to be a little difficult to get to stand properly. From a sculpting standpoint, the figure’s amazing. The 90s X-Men line could be a bit odd or overly simplistic at times (doesn’t mean I don’t still love them), but this one is genuinely great. He pretty much looks dead on to Dave Cockrum’s interpretation of the character, which is really cool to see. There’s an amazing amount of sculpted detail, and I especially love how well the head’s been handled. It just looks perfect. The paint work isn’t quite as astounding as the sculpting, but it’s all well applied, and I do really like that all the red parts have been molded in metallic red. Eric included a crazy space blaster, which fit very nicely in his hand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Eric was a Christmas gift from my parents. I received him, along with Havok, I believe. He was a very early addition to my action figure collection, and as such, I have a lot of nostalgia for this guy. It also helps that he was in The Phoenix Saga, which I owned on VHS, and that he is also just a pretty great figure. He also made for a really great bad guy for just about anyone to fight, which is always cool.

#0187: “World of the Psychic” Peter Venkman

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PETER VENKMAN – WORLD OF THE PSYCHIC

GHOSTBUSTERS MINIMATES

I think most Ghostbusters fans will agree that Ghostbusters 2 isn’t anywhere close to the level of the original, however, it’s not as bad as some will lead you to believe. One of the cool things to see was just what all of the characters had been up to since the end of the first film. Peter Venkman seemed to get the most entertaining of gigs of all the main characters, working as the host of the show World of the Psychic, where we get to see him interacting with two people who believe they know when the world will end. It’s one of the more amusing scenes in the movie, and Diamond Select Toys decided to honor it with the release of Peter from that scene in Minimate form.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Peter was released as part of the third series of Toys R Us Exclusive Ghostbusters Minimates. He was packed with the film’s main villain, Vigo the Carpathian, but my Vigo figure’s gone missing, so it’s just Peter today. Peter is built on the usual Minimate body, which means he has 14 points of articulation and stands about 2 ½ inches tall. He has two sculpted add-ons: a hairpiece, and a coat. The hair is the same piece used on the previous versions of Venkman, and the coat was a new piece, I think, but it has seen a fair number of re-uses since then. The paint is fairly basic, with mostly solid blocks of color on each piece, but he does have a decent Bill Murray likeness, this time with a more solemn expression, and he has funky red shoelaces on his shoes. Peter’s one accessory is a hairless cat, which is a great scene specific piece that could have been easily over looked.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I picked up Venkman and Vigo from my local TRU. I believe it was an after school trip with my Dad during my senior year. It’s neat idea for a figure, I suppose, though it’s a bit drab and it will hardly be anyone’s definitive version of Venkman. Still, I suppose it’s not too bad.

#0186: Kraven The Hunter

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KRAVEN THE HUNTER

SPIDER-MAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES

Remember my review of Unmasked Spider-Man from just last week? Good, that means this intro can be a bit shorter. Like that figure, this one hails from ToyBiz’s Spider-Man: The Animated Series line from the 90s, and also comes from one of the boxed sets ToyBiz released exclusively through BJ’s Wholesalers. This time around, it’s Kraven the Hunter, one of the classic Spider-Man foes. He was a hunter looking for a more exciting hunt, which led to him fighting Spidey on numerous occasions and eventually joining the first incarnation of the Sinister Six. Let’s see how he turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Kraven was released in the BJ’s exclusive Monster Mayhem set, which also included 5 other figures, all repaints. Kraven stands about 5 inches tall and has 9 points of articulation, which were both standard for the line. Kraven is 100% re-use, being a repaint of the main Spider-Man line’s own release of Kraven. The previous Kraven was based on his cartoon appearance, whereas this one seems to be more comic based. The biggest difference present is this figure’s leopard patterned pants in contrast to the previous figure’s black pants. The sculpt is a pretty good one, and is pretty in line with the classic Kraven design, so I can’t blame them for re-releasing it in a more comic accurate palate. The paint work is well applied and clean overall, and it appears to be a bit more detailed than the single release figure. Kraven included no accessories, which is a shame, because his hand is obviously molded to hold one.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I acquired this BJ’s exclusive at KB Toys. Yes, you read that right. Apparently, BJ’s would only actually hold on to these sets for a short while before selling them to KB for the rest of the distribution. Hey, it works for me. Anyway, I was on a trip to the beach, I think right before my brother was born, but I don’t recall for certain. My dad took me to the nearby KB and they had this set there. I had known about its existence, thanks to the internet, but I hadn’t seen it in person. I remember being pretty happy to get it, though it wasn’t really for Kraven. Still, he’s a decent figure, and does help bring back the memories of getting the set.

#0185: Iron Grenadier

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IRON GRENADIER

GI JOE 30TH ANNIVERSARY

I’ve done a fair number of reviews based around Hasbro’s 3 ¾ inch re-imagining of GI Joe under the A Real American Hero name. It’s ranged from the early 2000s re-launch as GI Joe VS Cobra, which was followed by GI Joe 25th Anniversary, which was in turn followed by the tie-in line for 2009’s GI Joe: Rise of Cobra. Following the return to the non-movie themed toys, Hasbro first introduced Pursuit of Cobra, before jumping into GI Joe 30th Anniversary. No points for guessing why they went with that name. Today, I look at an Iron Grenadier, a member of weapons supplier Destro’s personal army.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Grenadier was released as part of the first wave of GI Joe 30th Anniversary. It’s a slightly tweaked version of the same figure’s release in the Pursuit of Cobra line. Both figures are a more armored re-imagining of the classic Grenadier design. The key difference between the two is this version’s lack of camo-paint on the gray parts. The figure stands 3 ¾ inches tall and has 20 paints of articulation. The articulation is a bit hampered by some of the sculpted parts, but that’s to be expected. The Iron Grenadier is actually crated from totally reused parts, but they’re a smart re-use. The head comes from the previous 25th version of the Grenadier, and the body is from the armored up version of Destro released in the Pursuit of Cobra line. This means that the troops matched the newer version of Destro, while still fitting with the previous Grenadiers, which is definitely cool. All of the sculpted pieces are really great, and tremendously detailed. The paint work is pretty good on this figure, though he is hurt by the lack of detailing on the gray parts. Given the high quality work on the rest of the figure, he almost looks unfinished. The Grenadier includes a display stand with his name and the Cobra symbol, a backpack, a smart-gun, bullets, and a bullet case. All in all a solid figure.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I hadn’t really planned on getting the Grenadier, but I decided to order a full set of the first two waves of 30th from Big Bad Toy Store, so I ended up getting him with the set. I don’t regret the purchase, as it’s a pretty cool little figure, and a great addition to the Cobra ranks. It’s not quite as good as the Pursuit of Cobra version, but it’s still good on its own merits.

#0184: Precision Strike Winter Soldier

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PRECISION STRIKE WINTER SOLDIER

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

In case my last two reviews didn’t clue you in, I quite thoroughly enjoyed Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I think The Avengers still holds up as my favorite of the Marvel Studios films, just for the sheer accomplishment, but CA:TWS is a very close second.

Hasbro’s doing two separate lines of tie-in toys: one in 6 inch scale and one in 3 ¾ inch scale. Thanks to the way the characters have been laid out between the two lines, it appears I’ll be picking up both lines. Today, I’m looking at the 3 ¾ inch version of the (sub) title character, the Winter Soldier, or as he’s billed on the package “Precision Strike Winter Soldier.” Let’s see how he turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF
Winter Soldier was part of the first assortment of Captain America: The Winter Soldier figures. He’s based on Winter Soldier’s look for roughly the first half of the film, before he ditches the mask and goggles. I imagine this choice was made to hide the character’s true identity until most of the movie going public has a chance to have it revealed to them. It’s also just a cooler look. The figure stands about 3 ¾ inches tall and has 19 points of articulation. As I mentioned in my review of Cap, the figure is hurt by the lack of wrist, ankle, and waist articulation. Articulation issues aside, the sculpt on this figure is amazing. There’s lots of tiny detail work and textures, and the proportions are much better than they are on many 3 ¾ inch figures. Everything looks spot on to the character’s appearance in the film. The paint manages to live up to the sculpt, which is a rarity amongst Hasbro figures. There’s no slop or bleed over, and they even gave the torso and right arm a nice wash to bring out the details. The accessory selection ends up being the figure’s only real downside. Hasbro has given him a big dumb rocket launcher, and absolutely no guns at all (even though he’s labelled “precision strike”), and his hands are both molded to hold said non-existent guns. Guess he’ll forever be Marvel’s resident Fonzie stand-in…

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had intended to only get the 6 inch scale Winter Soldier, but after finding Falcon at my local Target, I broke down and picked up the 3 ¾ version as well. I’m glad I did. Winter Soldier is easily the best of the three I picked up. Yeah, the lack of wrist joints sucks, as does the stupid rocket launcher, but the sculpt and paint on this guy are really phenomenal. Arm him with a spare GI Joe gun and he’ll be even better. If only someone at Hasbro had thought of that…

#0183: Rocket Fire Falcon

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ROCKET FIRE FALCON

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

One of my favorite things about The Winter Soldier (which is a super awesome movie, by the way. If you haven’t already, go and see it!), was Anthony Mackie’s performance as Sam Wilson, aka The Falcon. It’s a role that could end up being either boring or too hokey, and he made it neither. He offered a great sounding board to Cap’s displacement in the present day, and I really hope to see more of him in the role (Is it too late to work him into Avengers 2?).

Needless to say, I definitely wanted the action figure. Sadly, Hasbro seems to have decided to leave him out of their really cool 6 inch line, so the only way to get him was to get into the 3 ¾ inch line (Of course, there’s no Black Widow in that line, so that means I still have to get the 6 inch stuff if I want her. Damn you, Hasbro and your ability to play into my need of action figures to get me to buy two different scales!). So, I broke down and bought him. Let’s take a look at how it turned out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Falcon was released in the second assortment of The Winter Soldier figures, alongside “Shield Blitz Captain America.” He’s mostly based on Falcon’s look in the movie, though it’s a little bit off. He’s a little over 3 ¾ inches tall and he has 21 points of articulation. I like that he has the wrist articulation that Cap lacked, but I still think he’d be helped by ankle and waist articulation as well. The sculpt is pretty good, though it isn’t without issue. First of all, he has a bit of a pin head. Not terrible, but it’s there. Secondly, his uniform’s wrong. They’ve given him sleeves, which he definitely didn’t have in the movie at any point. Aside from that, he’s not bad. The head does actually look a bit like Anthony Mackie, which is cool to see. The paintwork kind of betrays the sculpt. It’s not atrocious, but it’s certainly sloppy, and once again, the top half of his uniform is just plain wrong. Falcon manages to get hit the least severely of Hasbro’s decision to cut actual accessories in lieu of silly rocket launchers. He still has trigger hands, to be sure, but they can be hidden by the posing, thanks to the wrist articulation. He’s got this silly bright red rocket in place of his jet pack, but Hasbro has thankfully also included a more film accurate one as well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, the fact that I have any of The Winter Soldier figures from the 3 ¾ inch line is totally Falcon’s fault. I found him at Target over the weekend and decided to pick up Cap and the Winter Soldier as well. Falcon’s not a bad figure. I wish he were a bit more accurate, but he’s a decent representation of the character in the movie, which is cool.