#3430: Zeo Cog

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

ZEO COG

POWER RANGERS: LIGHTNING COLLECTION (HASBRO)

Every iteration of Power Rangers gets its own set of faceless mooks for the teens with aititude to beat up. Well, okay, Morphin had a few different ones, what’ with it actually being a few different shows. But the others tend to narrow in on just one. Zeo had the Rangers facing off against the Machine Empire, whose particular brand of mooks were the Cogs.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Zeo Cog was released in Series 11 of Hasbro’s Power Rangers: Lightning Collection. The Cogs were initially added to the line as a Pulse-exclusive two-pack, before this slightly modified version was put out on his own. The figure stands just over 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 34 points of articulation. The Cog is built on the line’s generic spandex-clad body, with a new head, forearms, and boots, as well as an add-on piece for his belt. I find the head sculpt on this one particulariy impressive; it captures the signature elements of the show design, but cleans: them up just a bit, for that “the way you remember it looking” feel. The rest of the body is a bit more by the numbers, but generally works alright. He’s technically missing a pair of discs at the shoulders and elbows, but those are likely a symptom of the re-used body. The color work on this guy goes for the silver style of Cog, which is usually the one to get the marketing push. The silver is actually a semi-transparent plastic, which makes for a rather fun look. The painted elements are pretty ceanly handled, so he generally looks prestty sharp. The cog is packed with two sets of hands (gripping and a fist/open gesture combo), a staff in long and short configurations, and an alternate head with the face plate raised. Additinaly, the Cog gets two extra pieces that arent actualey for him: Zeo Blue’s tonfas! Since Rocky was the first Zeo Ranger, he was the only one not to get his power weapons, which was a definite bummer. So, Hasbro rounded out the team’s weapons via this release, which is honestly not the worst way to handle it. At least they didn’t make people buy Zeo Blue again.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I almost jumped on this figure right away when he was released, but I realized it was largely just for the tonfas, which is a hard justification, for buying a full priced figure. So, I held off, and, through a wacky set of circumstances that I can’t fully detail here, I got an incredibly good deal on one. He’s fun. Not as fun as the Rangers but still fun.

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.

#3429: Mighty Morphin Blue Ranger

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews

MIGHTY MORPHIN BLUE RANGER

POWER RANGERS: LIGHTNING COLLECTION REMASTERED (HASBRO)

My last Lightning Collection review opened with a remark that I was pretty sure I was supposed to be done with this line. But, I gave myself the exemption of Blue Rangers, and that one may have been another Billy, but he was at least in a different outfit. This one? Not even in a different outfit. I know. I’m disappointed in myself too. Okay, not really. I’ve got a few compelling reasons for having another one. Let’s check the figure and those compelling reasons out!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mighty Morphin Blue Ranger is one of the two figures that make up the first assortment of Power Rangers: Lightning Collection Remastered, a sub-line of figures dedicated to redoing the original Rangers, but with a deluxe sort of treatment. The first assortment was Billy and Trini, who will be joined by Red, Pink, and Green later this year, and the Black Ranger…sometime? I don’t know. I really only care about this figure. Said figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and has 34 points of articulation. While you might think there would be a lot of re-used pieces between this and the standard Blue Ranger, there are actually very few parts shared. The upper torso, arms, and legs have all been redone to tweak the articulation schemes, adding more range on the neck, and removing the visible pins on the arms and legs. The arms have also been modified so that they can now sit more flush with the torso, making him less hover-arm-y. The head has also been replaced with a helmet that’s more accurate to the actual on-screen piece, with a far better selection of proportions than the last one. Additionally, the plastic quality on this one seems to be just a touch better, and he just feels a lot less gummy than the last figure did.  While the paint on the standard Billy certainly wasn’t bad, this one still improves upon it, with sharper application across the board, and additional details not present on the last one. It looks a lot nicer. Billy is packed with three pairs of hands (in fists, gripping, and a set for holding his morpher), both configurations of his power lance, all three configurations of the Blade Blaster, his morpher, two effects pieces, and an unmasked head with a pair of removable glasses. It’s quite a lot, and definitely fits with that deluxe set-up that they were going for on these releases.  I appreciate that no trade-offs occurred, so he’s still got everything from the last time around, but just with extra stuff.  It’s great to finally see the Blade Blaster in all its modes, and the Morpher is also a pretty fun little piece.  The new head also improves on the old one, and even manages to do removable glasses that are not only secure in place, but also look better than the permanently affixed ones.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I already had the standard version of this guy, and I also already have the whole MMPR team in Figuarts, so the remasters weren’t something I immediately felt the need to jump on.  That said, I do love Billy, and Blue Rangers in general, so I was mighty tempted.  Thankfully, I didn’t have to have too much debate about it, as I wound up getting this guy from my son Matty for my birthday, which was pretty awesome.  I expected him to be an improvement over the original release, but I didn’t expect him to be this *much* of an improvement.  He’s honestly really, really good.  Way better than I was expecting.  I mean, I’m not gonna go crazy and jump in on the whole team in this style or anything, but I do really appreciate this one.

Mutant X Re-Read #05: Man-Spider and Brute…Colaught in a Web of Evil

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Mutant X Re-Read

GOBLINS IN THE NIGHT

MUTANT X #5 (MARVEL COMICS)

“In another place–in another life–Alex Summers led a team of mutants in a battle against oppression. His methods were extreme, his tactics questionable, but–in his soul–he knew that he was fighting for the greater good.

Now that soul has been transferred to another world, and Summers, also known as Havok, has found himself living a lie, allied with a team of mutants who are sinister, parallel versions of his friends and family. It is to this dark, new place that Havok has come, where he stands as a man alone… a mutant alone. Alex Summers is Mutant X.

Fear him. Fear for him.”

25 years ago, Marvel Comics launched Mutant X, a Havok led X-spinoff. I recently came into a complete run of the series, and so now I’m going to re-read the series once a week, and you guys get to come along for the ride!

This week, The Six teams up with Spider-Man Man-Spider, and things don’t go so well for….like any body involved, really, in “Goblins in the Night.”

THE ISSUE ITSELF

Mutant X #5 is cover dated February of 1999, and has story and dialogue by Howard Mackie, pencils by Tom Raney, inks by Andrew Pepoy, colors by Gina Going, and letters by Chris Eliopoulos.

The story begins with the Six in the midst of battling Norman Osborne’s army of minions. Havok, still trying to get a grip on things, refers to them as “demons”, but Maddie takes umbrage with this, insisting they are little more than clones. Eager to end the fight, Maddie takes the Fallen to confront Osborne directly. A distrusting Havok asks Brute to go along to keep an eye on the other two. As Maddie and Osborne battle, Man-Spider arrives to intervene. Maddie is insistent on killing Osborne, but Man-Spider objects. Maddie and the Fallen turn on Man-Spider, and Maddie murders Osborne and Man-Spider just as Brute arrives. Fallen threatens to hurt Brute’s family and friends if Brute tells anyone what happened, sending Brute into a rage. When the rest of the team arrives, Maddie pins the murders on Brute, who, fearful for those he cares for, is unable to offer evidence to the contrary. Alex tries to reason with Brute, but is interrupted by the others, who subdue Hank and turn him in to the authorities.

A lot of stuff happens in this issue, especially in terms of moving the on-going plot forward. After a few issues of filling in the universe, this one seems more set on actually playing within what’s there. It’s also a rather Alex-light story, which is an interesting change. He gets a rather recap-heavy internal narration at the beginning, sends Brute on his way, and then is absent for quite a bit of the issue. There’s a lot of really good stuff with Brute, who remains the most interesting of the Six, as he struggles with his moral compass relative to his reduced intellect. Maddie also falls deeper into the dark side, and we *finally* get some characterization for the Fallen. Boy is *he* not a nice guy. In some ways, Warren’s devotion to Maddie does seem a little sudden, but it’s refreshing compared to the absolutely no characterization he had previously. The sudden demise of Man-Spider after placing him front and center on the cover also is a neat subversion, following up on the trend set by Wolverine of displacing the heavy hitters in this universe.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I said last issue that I was iffy on the Goblin Queen stuff, but it honestly picks up really well this time around. It’s clearer what direction they’re heading with her, and Fallen gets to start his own arc, which I’ve been patiently waiting to see kick into action. There’s a lot less Havok, though, which I’m always a little down on, but at least we get some good Brute coverage

I snagged this whole run from my usual comics stop, Cosmic Comix, so I want to give them a shout out here, because it was a pretty great find.

 

#3428: Moon Knight

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

MOON KNIGHT

MOON KNIGHT (HOT TOYS)

“We protect the vulnerable, and deliver justice.” – Marc Spector

Another Hot Toy?  This quickly?  I know, I usually do a much better job of spacing them out.  But alas, I can’t.  You know why?  I’ll tell you why:  MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON KNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT.  …Ummm, Moon Knight’s why.  There’s a Hot Toys Moon Knight.  That’s essentially what I was getting at there.  It’s…well, it’s pretty cool.  But I’m biased, I guess.  Oh well, biased or not, I’m jumping into this review, right here, right now.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Moon Knight is part of Hot Toys’ Television Masterpiece Series, where he’s numbered TMS075, which places him squarely between Kate Bishop from Hawkeye, and Commander Appo from Clone Wars.  He’s thus far the only entry in the line from the Moon Knight show.  He’s based on the Marc persona’s Moon Knight garb, which is the most classically Moon Knight look of the two we get, so it makes sense to start here.  He’s also a Hot Toy that’s actually managed to stick pretty close to his original release date, and he hit at the beginning of July stateside.  The figure stands just shy of 11 1/2 inches tall and he has over 30 points of articulation.

A good number of Hot Toys are noted for their incredibly realistic sculpting on the faces.  Moon Knight gets very realistic sculpting on the head…but there’s not actually a face.  We just get the masked version this time around, so we’re left once again without an Oscar Isaac likeness on a Hot Toy, adding further insult to that Poe Dameron never materializing all those years ago.  The masked head is, admittedly, still a very, very nice sculpt, with plenty of sharp detailing and texturing to keep things realistic, as well as interesting.  His hood is also sculpted, and its permanently affixed to the head.  On one hand, it does look better aesthetically, but on the other, I do sort of wish they’d done it as an actual cloth hood, to better match the cloak, and also add a little bit more variety to its posing.  The paint work gives him a good deal of weathering, which matches the show design well.  He’s also got a built-in light-up feature for the eyes.  It’s quite impressive, but also doesn’t require the figure to look odd when the feature is turned off, which I very much appreciate.

Moon Knight has quite an involved costume construction.  There’s an underlying jumpsuit, designed to look like his mummy wrappings.  A combination of stitching and printed patterns helps them to look like the real deal, and even match up surprisingly well with the sculpted wrappings on the head and hands.  He gets cloth add-ons for the cloak and belt/loincloth.  The cloak has four wires running through it, allowing for all sorts of dynamic posing, and is a very impressively tailored piece.  He also gets sculpted add-ons for his chest, shoulder, and wrist armor, two piece boots, and a mixed-media cloth and plastic combo for his knee pads.  The two parts of the boots are so well matched that I almost didn’t realize they weren’t one solid piece at first.  Once I freed them up, his right foot had a tendency to fall off during posing, but it stays in place once posed.

Moon Knight’s underlying body aims for the best possible posablity, and it succeeds on that front.  Even with all the layers and parts tacked on, he’s capable of pulling off some surprisingly deep poses, especially when it comes to the arms.  The legs, especially at the hips, are more restricted, but they still work pretty decently.

Moon Knight gets a decent selection of extras, including:

  • 5 pairs of hands
  • 3 small moonarangs
  • 3 medium moonarangs
  • 2 large moonarangs
  • A display base, with flight stand and large crescent attachments

The hands come in fists, large moonarang crescent gripping, smaller grip, wide gesture, and smaller gesture.  The moonarangs are nice and sharp, both in detailing and in actual sharpness.  The base is a little larger than I’d prefer, honestly, but it gets the job done.  The big crescent is cool looking, but it’s made of higher grade styrofoam, so I do worry a bit about its long term durability.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Have I mentioned that I like Moon Knight?  Because I kinda do.  Legitimately, when the show was announced, one of the first thoughts I had was “I’m gonna get a Hot Toys Moon Knight.”  And get a Hot Toys Moon Knight I did indeed.  After the lengthy wait on my last two HT preorders, this guy came surprisingly fast, but I’m hardly complaining about that.  I wish he’d had an unmasked head, but beyond that, I really dig this guy.  He’s a quality piece, and a fantastic addition to my Moon Knight collection.  And I now begin the wait until the inevitable Mr. Knight figure.

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.

#3427: Baron Zemo

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

BARON ZEMO

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Born into greatness and great darkness, Helmut Zemo is a man of terrific and terrible genius. The 13th Baron Zemo has sworn everlasting vengeance against his family’s nemesis: Captain America!”

When Captain America returned to the present day (well, the ’60s, but it was the present day back then), he brought with him a new old foe, Baron Heinrich Zemo.  Heinrich was added retroactively to Cap’s WW2 adventures, and was revealed to be the cause of the incident that killed Bucky and left Cap in suspended animation.  Heinrich rattled around in “modern” times for a bit, before dying in an avalanche caused by himself.  In 1973, his son Helmut appeared (using the alias “Phoenix” three years before Jean Grey would lay claim to it), believing Cap to be his father’s murderer, and swearing vengeance.  Helmut would embrace the Baron Zemo title about a decade later, at which point he went about becoming by far the more memorable of the two Zemos.  And that’s why he gets more of the action figure coverage.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Baron Zemo was originally a Walgreens-exclusive Marvel Legends offering, released as the first in their 2022 Villains theme.  He was offered up for a wider fan channel release at the end of the year, which has been the trend on a good number of the Walgreens-exclusives.  The figure stands just over 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 32 points of articulation.  The last comic Helmut went for more of a modernized appearance, but this one goes for his classic look from the ’80s.  It’s a bit on the hokey side, but it’s still very much his most distinctive appearance, and I very much dig it.  Structurally, he makes use of Dormammu’s arms and feet, the legs of the Bucky Cap mold, and a new head, torso, belt, and boot cuffs.  The head is distinct from the previous version; there are some similarities, as expected, but this one is a bit crisper and sharper in terms of detailing.  The new torso set-up has a really impressive ball-jointed neck, and even the fancy moving shoulder sections like we’ve seen on some of the Black Series and Classified set-ups.  The color work on this guy is pretty solid stuff.  There’s a lot of molded coloring, as per the usual, but there’s also some decent little accenting on the mask, which works so well in conjunction with the sculpted elements.  Zemo is packed with four different hands, as well as the same sword included with the last one.  The hilt on the sword is prone to chipping, which is a little frustrating.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve honestly been pretty happy with the Mandroid Series Zemo since I got him, so when this one was announced, I didn’t feel like I *needed* him or anything, especially not to the level of tracking down and exclusive.  When he moved to wider release, however, and I got to see him in person, I had a much easier time justifying him.  I’m glad I did, because he’s an immense improvement on the last one, and it’s great to finally have his classic design in this scale.

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.

#3426: Kraglin

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

KRAGLIN

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“Former first mate of Yondu and Ravager who fought alongside the Avengers against Thanos, Kraglin sets off with the Guardians to protect the galaxy.”

When he appeared in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie, Kraglin was really just an extended cameo for director James Gunn’s brother Sean.  He had a few memorable lines, and got a spot standing next to Yondu, but that was really it.  By the time of the sequel, he became a full-fledged character on his own, and by Vol. 3 he’s actually worked his way into the team’s family dynamic.  Not so bad for a throwaway character.  Given his ever growing role, he’s also been fortunate to make his way to the world of toys. That’s not so bad either!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Kraglin is the final single-release figure from the Cosmo Series of Marvel Legends, wrapping up the Guardians 3 tie-in stuff.  This is his first proper figure, though he also got a Pop around the same time.  Are we really gonna count that, though?  No, we’re not.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation.  Kraglin is seen here in his full Ravagers gear, which he wears during the film’s climactic battle.  It’s also the same basic thing he wore during the last two films, so he can also work as a mid-credits Kraglin from Vol. 2 if you’re so inclined.  Since he’s wearing Ravagers garb, Hasbro’s taken the opportunity to do a little re-use on this figure.  He’s got the arms and legs of the movie Yondu from the last movie’s tie-ins, coupled with a new head, torso, and hands.  Unfortunately, the Yondu parts were engineered to match up with pieces from the first film’s Star-Lord figure, which was one of the first film’s weakest figures to begin with, and was already a little outdated by Vol. 2, making the parts feel even more out of whack all this time later.  The new head and torso certainly do their best to elevate the general quality of the figure, especially with the fairly respectable likeness of Gunn on the head, he still feels a little bit out of place.  Those limbs are just rather unforgiving.  Kraglin’s paint work isn’t too bad; there’s a decent amount of smaller detailing present, which goes above and beyond what Yondu got.  He also gets the usual face printing, which is as strong here as ever.  He’s packed with Yondu’s arrow piece, a small knife, and a leg for Cosmo.  The arrow piece is still a bit stubborn, and I don’t like that it’s got that permanently attached trail, but it’s better than nothing, I suppose.  I’d have liked to see maybe an extra head, without the fin, so that he could be a Vol 1/Vol 2 Kraglin, but I guess that would have just been too much Sean Gunn for one package.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Thanks to how large just the main cast was on the first two Guardians, I knew there was no way we’d be getting a Kraglin, but I still really liked the character, and was always hopeful.  I was glad to see him get a larger role this time around, and even more glad that it translated into him finally getting a figure.  It’s not a perfect figure.  In fact, it’s a bit rough.  But, on the flipside, it also matches up pretty well with that Yondu figure, so I guess there’s that.  And, quite frankly, it could have been a lot worse.

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.

#3425: Deathstroke

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

DEATHSTROKE

SUPER POWERS (MCFARLANE)

Hey, remember a week ago, when I was talking about McFarlane’s Super Powers. Well, I don’t. No, seriously, I don’t. That was a fill in review that I wrote back in March. Hang on, let me refresh myself…

…okay, I’m back. Boy, that was a wild ride, huh? Well, umm, I got another one. It’s Deathstroke this time. So, uhh, let’s look at that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Deathstroke is part of the third series of McFarlane’s Super Powers line, which wound up being the last assortment to be Walmart-exclusive. Deathstroke was the one truly new character in the assortment (since Dick Grayson was in the vintage line as Robin), and is honestly one of the best choices for a continued line, since he was amongst the figures in the works when the original line ended. More over, he’s actually seen here in the proper attire of the era, which he would have been wearing had the vintage figure been released. The figure stands about 5 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation. Deathstroke is, like the rest of this line, about half an inch too tall to truly fit with the vintage line, which remains a baffling choice. At least with Deathstroke, the height isn’t quite as glaring an issue as it was with Nightwing. Slade has in the past been depicted as a larger guy, so you can just pretend that’s the case here, I guess. Deathstroke has an all-new sculpt, and, I can’t believe I’m gonna say this: it’s actually really good. Most of the issues I had with the Nightwing sculpt are not present here. The legs have the proper stance (making him a more stable figure as well), and his detailing feels far more authentic to the vintage line. The only issue that really still remains is the knee joints, but I guess I just have to let those go.  Deathstroke’s color work is generally pretty well handled, but it winds up with a quirk; the light blue that should be at his mid-section is instead on his shoulders.  It’s a mix-up, but one that sort of works, and feels like the sort of on-brand mix-up for the Kenner line.  Deathstroke is packed with his sword, which he can hold in his right hand.  As with the rest of the line, he’s without an action feature, but it’s not the end of the world.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Nightwing and Deathstroke were the only figures from this line I had any interest in.  Nightwing had issues, but he was honestly better than I was expecting, so when I found this guy marked down, he was an easy sell.  I’m still annoyed by the scale issue, perhaps even more so, because other than that, this guy is really, really good.  It just showcases that Todd *could* be making a really strong line, but just doesn’t, which is honestly even more frustrating than when it seemed like he was just bad at toys.

 

#3424: He-Man – Movie

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

HE-MAN — MOVIE

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE MASTERVERSE (MATTEL)

Masters of the Universe was quite a powerhouse property in the early to mid ’80s, and it’s owners Mattel had seen great success not just with the toys, but also in the realm of comics and TV. With that in mind, they set their sights on a theatrical film, and said film materialized in 1987…to mixed results. By ’87, public interest had started to move past MotU, and the film itself was held back by its changes to the source material, largely the result of its rather small budget. In the years since, it’s gotten quite a cult following, however, and, aided by a resurgence of interest in the franchise as a whole, it’s even managed to get a little bit of toy coverage, too, including a pair of Masterverse figures, the first of which I’m taking a look at today! Let’s take a look at He-Man!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

He-Man is a deluxe sized offering from the Masters of the Universe: Masterverse line, the first of the two movie-based deluxe figures (the other being Skeletor). The figure stands about 7 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation. He’s using the line’s standard male body, which works well enough. Though some of the people at Mattel during the film’s production apparently found Dolph Lundgren, who was a body builder who could snap most normal men in two mind you, too scrawny for the role, the standards of build for He-Man have changed enough that the line’s standard build actually matches up pretty well. He gets two new heads, new upper arms, and shins, as well as overlays for his harness, belt, and wrist guard, and a soft goods cape. The first head is the actual “movie inspired” one, though that largely just amounts to the styling of his hair, as they didn’t actually get Lundgren’s likeness rights. He doesn’t look *unlike* Lundgren, I suppose, but his face does seem a little wide. His alternate head is a more house style He-Man, which looks odd to me, but I guess there’s an appeal to it. The heads are really difficult to swap, though, to the point where I was worried I was going to break the neck peg when going back and forth. The rest of the new parts capture his film look pretty well, and I quite like how the cape gets printed detailing on the outside. He-Man’s color work is decent enough. Definitely the armor and hair get the best work, since there’s some solid accenting in play there. He’s packed with his power sword, two different knives, a pistol, and two sets of hands. I really like that he’s actually got storage for all the weapons, but I’m less enthusiastic about the fact that the paint is already chipping on the sword handle, and also that none of his hands can properly hold the pistol.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was late to the game on the Masters movie, and didn’t actually see it until I was in college about a decade ago. After years of hearing how bad it was, I was pleasantly surprised, and it’s become one I’ve returned to a good number of times. I really wanted to grab Super 7’s Movie He-Man when he hit, but missed out and always regretted it, so I was glad to get another chance with this one. I actually got this one as a Father’s Day gift from my son Matthew, who was committed to keeping last year’s theme of Masterverse going. He’s not a perfect figure, but he’s fun, and I’m very glad to have him.

Mutant X Re-Read #04: Secrets and Lies

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Mutant X Re-Read

SECRETS AND LIES

MUTANT X #4 (MARVEL COMICS)

“In another place–in another life–Alex Summers led a team of mutants in a battle against oppression. His methods were extreme, his tactics questionable, but–in his soul–he knew that he was fighting for the greater good.

Now that soul has been transferred to another world, and Summers, also known as Havok, has found himself living a lie, allied with a team of mutants who are sinister, parallel versions of his friends and family. It is to this dark, new place that Havok has come, where he stands as a man alone… a mutant alone. Alex Summers is Mutant X.

Fear him. Fear for him.”

25 years ago, Marvel Comics launched Mutant X, a Havok led X-spinoff. I recently came into a complete run of the series, and so now I’m going to re-read the series once a week, and you guys get to come along for the ride!

This week, Madelyn Pryor unleashes her dark side, while Bloodstorm reveals some of her secrets! And Alex? Well, he sort of bounces around.

THE ISSUE ITSELF

Mutant X #4 is cover dated January 1999, and has story and art by Howard Mackie, Gary Nord, and Andrew Pepoy.

Madelyn Pryor has a nightmare of becoming the Goblin Queen, but is awoken by Alex, who tells her Scotty is calling her. Alex tells her to go back to sleep and goes to check on Scotty himself, encountering Bloodstorm on his way. She leaves for business off premises, and arrives at another castle. Kitty Pryde informs her that her meal awaits, and Ororo enters to see Forge, who allows her to feed on him. Back at Bannerman’s Castle, the lights go out, and Alex and Scotty go to check on them. They are attacked by goblins, and run to find Maddie. Beneath the castle, Maddie speaks with a shadowy demon figure, who convinces her to give into her demonic powers. Alex and Scotty are chased through the castle by the goblins, and are eventually cornered, before Maddie arrives and makes the goblins vanish with her new powers.

This issue starts to really delve into the ongoing story elements that will really shape this series, especially Maddie’s arc. It also gives us our first glimpse into Bloodstorm’s character, and further develops Alex and Scotty’s relationship. The developments with Maddie are important, but also feel just a tad sudden, given she and Alex just made peace with his own problems last issue. Knowing that this was originally only supposed to run 12 issues does explain some of this, since it gave them more of a tight schedule. However, that tight schedule makes the lack of any role for three of the team’s members (Ice-Man, Brute, and Fallen) in this issue seem even worse, especially since Bob and Warren have neither one gotten any real focus thus far. Warren in particular still hasn’t gotten much to go on beyond being the friend that nobody likes.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, the Goblin Queen stuff is sort of where my interest checked out. Not that it’s bad, but it did feel a little meandering at times. This issue definitely shows that more so. There’s set up, but it doesn’t quite have a punch just yet. Of course, it’s still nice to get more Alex/Scotty scenes, and at least this advanced the plot more than last issue.

I snagged this whole run from my usual comics stop, Cosmic Comix, so I want to give them a shout out here, because it was a pretty great find.

 

#3423: Captain America – Sam Wilson

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA — SAM WILSON

THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER (HOT TOYS)

“Teaming up with Bucky Barnes against the Flag Smashers rebel group, Sam Wilson a.k.a The Falcon suits up again but in a new outfit with his signature wings, reclaims the symbolic shield once wielded by Steve Rogers and the complicated legacy that comes with being the new Captain America in the conclusion of Marvel Studios’ The Falcon and the Winter Soldier series.”

You know what shouldn’t be a controversial thing?  Sam Wilson, the most logical choice for a successor to Steve Rogers for the role of Captain America, being the successor to Steve Rogers in the role of Captain America.  You know what is a controversial thing, apparently?  Sam Wilson, the most logical choice for a successor to Steve Rogers for the role of Captain America, being the successor to Steve Rogers in the role of Captain America.  I know.  I was baffled by it myself.  Like, I saw Endgame.  I saw the shield.  I said to myself “that’s clearly not Steve’s shield.”  I thought “Steve’s gonna give him that shield.”  And then Steve did give him that shield.  And I was all like, hey, that’s pretty cool.  Now Sam is Cap.  But then he wasn’t *quite* Cap, and we got a great six-episode miniseries, where they really got Sam to that place where he personally felt right about being Cap.  And I was like, now Sam is Cap.  But there was apparently dissent from people, who, like, didn’t understand the entire point of the show, or something.  But, the point is:  Sam is Cap.  Here’s a figure of Sam as Cap.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America – Sam Wilson is the second The Falcon and the Winter Soldier inspired figure from Hot Toys’ Television Masterpiece Series, which serves as the small-screen counterpart to the longer-running Movie Masterpiece Series.  He’s figure TMS040, which places him between Bucky and a Stormtrooper Commander from The Mandalorian.  He hit a fair bit of time after both of those figures, towards the beginning of this summer, some 10 months after the Bucky that pairs off with him hit.  Hey, that’s Hot Toys releases, right?  The figure stands about 12 inches tall and he has, just, like, so many points of articulation.  Look, they’re all there, but, like, hiding, so I’m not gonna count them.  Rest assured they’re there.

A lot of the Steve Caps got multiple heads, but Sam just gets the one masked one.  Of course, even masked, there’s still quite a bit of his face to show off, and Hot Toys does very well with that.  The head’s sporting a very strong likeness of Anthony Mackie, and the detailing on his mask and goggles is also definitely up to snuff.  As per the usual HT standards, the head is incredibly lifelike, both in terms of sculpting and paint. There’s a full facial likeness present, with the goggles being a separate piece laid in place, which makes for a very realistic look.

Sam’s outfit is at its base level a single jumpsuit set-up. It’s a rather complex piece, with a lot of different materials and patterns stitched together, as well as some harder material armor plating glued in place over top. The tailoring is pretty well handled. It sits well on the body, and is overall quite accurate to the suit as seen on screen. It’s accented by sculpted arm and shin guards, custom sculpted feet, and a compact version of his wing pack mounted on the back. The pack pops apart, and you can swap out the two side pieces for a single piece with ball joints on either side, allowing you to actually mount his properly scaled, fully articulated wings. When fully extended, the wings boast an over 30 inch wingspan, and they can also be folded inwards for all sorts of cool flying poses. They’re a little unnerving to pose, especially at first, and you have to be careful not to let the section overlap incorrectly, but they hold up well and he’s surprisingly stable with them in place.

The underlying body is pretty much the norm for more recent HT Caps. It’s definitely designed more for posability, since it’s totally covered, but the outfit still winds up being pretty restrictive. The shoulders in particular don’t have a lot of give. He does, however, do better on leg movement than the typical Steve figure, so that’s a plus.

Sam is already pretty well stacked for value just with the core figure and the wings, but he also gets a selection of other extras, including:

  • 4 sets of hands
  • His shield
  • A piece for mounting his shield on his back
  • Redwing
  • A display stand branded with the show logo

The hands come in fists, gripping, open gesture, and flat. There’s an extra set of wrist pegs to go with them, and they swap out about as easily as any other HT hands. The shield is very similar to Steve’s, but with the expected changes to the front. The straps are a touch more fragile, at least on mine, as I popped one of the glue seals while taking the photos for this review. The mount for the shield is a little troublesome to work out, but it’s not too bad once you get it on there. Redwing is based on his upgraded design from the finale, and is very nicely detailed. The stand is a flexible flight stand, with spots for both Sam and Redwing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been impressed by Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson since Winter Soldier, and I came *very* close to ordering his first HT figure before breaking my habit. After Endgame Cap got me back in again, I decided I’d just stick to my Cap chronology. Hey, look, Sam was Cap. That was certainly convenient. It’s been a lengthy wait, but he’s a very impressive piece to be sure.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review. If you’d like to see a video of this guy in action, I helped out with one for their YouTube channel, so check that out. If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.