Tag Archives: 00s

#4103: Darth Vader – Dagobah

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

DARTH VADER — DAGOBAH

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE JEDI (HASBRO)

“Taking the form of Darth Vader , the Dark Lord of the Sith, this spirit is the embodiment of the dark side of the Force. It dwells in a cave on the swamp-covered planet of Dagobah. Although defeated by Luke Skywalker in combat, its unmasked face revealed that Luke has yet to master the ways of the Force and become a Jedi.”

One of the aims of Power of the Jedi was to reintegrate the Original Trilogy characters into the main Star Wars line, to assuage retailers after the concerns surrounding the unsold Episode I product.  In some ways, it feels like a continuation of Power of the Force, but it also leans into a concept not quite as explored in PotF: scene specific variants.  They went to the scene specific well twice for franchise icon Darth Vader, and I’m looking at the first of those two instances today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Darth Vader — Dagobah was released in 2000 as part of the first year of Star Wars: Power of the Jedi.  Though listed as a Vader variant, he’s not technically one, since he’s a figure of the spirit Luke sees in the cave on Dahobah, and is therefore not the actual guy.  But, he’s good enough for the toy company to count him.  The figure stands a little over 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 8 points of articulation.  Though he he feels quite similar to the later run PotF Vader figures, this one had an all-new sculpt, which, as far as I know, remained unique to this release.  It’s slightly more on the pre-posed side, dialing more into the specific shots we see of the spirit in its one scene.  He’s made for holding his lightsaber and standing there with a bit of menace, which he does rather well.  He’s still got a bit of residual bulk from Power of the Force, but nothing crazy.  The actual detailing is all pretty sharp, and they do a good job with his costume details, and the elements specific to the Empire design.  To fully replicate the scene, the figure’s faceplate is removable (a feature that’s surprisingly well hidden), showing Luke’s face beneath.  You can also remove the figure’s head, through use of a kind of rudimentary peg.  He was originally supposed to use a magnet to attach the head, but that was deemed too involved for the line, and delayed until Saga came along.  The figure’s color work aids in the “spirit” vibe, with a slight translucent feature to it, most visible on the cape and cloak.  Vader is packed with his lightsaber, which notably gets actual detailing on the hilt, in contrast to the Power of the Force figures.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember seeing pictures of this figure when the line was running, and I was always fascinated by the look with the Luke face.  But, because he was packaged with the faceplate on, I didn’t ever realize which Vader he actually was.  It wouldn’t be until much later on that I realized how it worked, at which point I reaffirmed my search, tracking one down a few years back through Yesterday’s Fun, during one of my many family vacations in the area.  He’s a nifty little variant, and really the best way to recreate a rather memorable scene from the movies.

#4102: Undertow

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

UNDERTOW

G.I. JOE VS COBRA (HASBRO)

“Any frogman can operate efficiently in clean water, under optimum conditions, but the UNDERTOW are specially trained to function and fight in the murky, polluted waters surrounding busy industrial and military waterfronts. Their wetsuits are made of a nontoxic, anti-corrosive material, and their face masks are coated with silicone to repel oil slicks. They are almost impossible to capture or defeat because others cannot enter the hostile water environments in which they work.”

It may have been my introduction to the smaller scale version of the franchise, but I haven’t talked too much about the early ‘00s G.I. Joe vs Cobra re-launch of the A Real American Hero incarnation of the brand.  While the initial offerings from the line were all-new sculpts, and in fact even moved away from the traditional O-ring construction, a stronger interest than Hasbro expected, and a need for product fast resulted in a lot of padding of the re-launch’s first year with older molds.  In particular, a lot of molds used for the 2000 drug store run found their way back into circulation.  One of those molds was Undertow, whom I’m looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Undertow was released as part of the G.I. Joe vs Cobra line in 2002.  He and seven other figures made up a “Sound Attack” themed 8-pack of figures, which was a BJ’s Wholesale-exclusive set dropped near the holiday season.  While the original Undertow was introduced as part of Destro’s forces, this one moves them under the Cobra banner.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  Undertow makes used of the entirety of his 1990 v1 figure’s sculpt, which I reviewed in its original form.  Honestly, it’s a strong sculpt.  I think it’s a bit more reserved than others of the era, and that works in its favor, making him feel generally more timeless in his design.  The change-up here comes in the color work.  The original release had a color scheme I described as “Christmas pageant reject” and I stand by that.  All the Cobra forces in this set went heavy on the red for whatever reason.  Undertow was almost entirely red and, honestly, I kinda dig it.  It’s bright, but less garish than the original.  The grey accenting works pretty well too, and the addition of the Cobra logo on the forehead feels like it’s adding an element that was missing from the beginning.  Undertow gets none of the original’s accessories, instead getting an…odd assortment of parts.  There’s a blaster pistol that originally belonged to the 1992 Destro (missing from mine), a chainsaw with a Sound Attack tab on it, which began as Buzzer’s, got refitted for the 2002 Zartan, and a backpack recolored from the original Snow Serpent.  Nothing remotely aquatic there, which makes it real hodgepodge and like they’re just filling space in the set.  His Joe counterpart, Wetsuit, was pretty much the same way, so at least they were consistent?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I jumped into the line with the first assortment, specifically the Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow set, and picked up quite a few others over the course of the year.  My parents made note of the interest, and this set was snagged for me for Christmas, and it was certainly a major focus. Of the figures included, this was my favorite, for whatever reason, though I pretty much never used him as a proper villain.  My original didn’t make it through my childhood intact, so I’ve been looking to replace him for a while.  I had tracked down the original, but he didn’t *quite* hit that same mark for me.  I was glad to find this one at Yesterday’s Fun while on vacation this summer.  He’s cool.  I still love the mold, and I do think these colors work better than the originals.  The accessories are weird, but otherwise, I really like him.

#4099: Obi-Wan Kenobi – Cold Weather Gear

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OBI-WAN KENOBI — COLD WEATHER GEAR

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE JEDI (HASBRO)

“A Jedi must always be well equipped for any circumstance. Obi-Wan Kenobi, a loyal and disciplined Jedi, is often sent by the Jedi Council to resolve matters on worlds where the environment is very cold. He often must prepare for these missions by bringing special gear with him to handle the colder temperatures.”

With my review of IG-11 last week, I’ve once again exhausted my new Star Wars merch, so it’s time to go back to the retro stuff.  With my meager Episode I collection wrapped up, I’m moving onto that which follows, Power of the Jedi.  The diminishing returns of the Episode I line at retail led Hasbro to rework it into a more franchise comprehensive line, more in the mold of the just wrapped up Power of the Force.  In addition to putting out the handful of remaining Episode I toys, the new line offered up some Original Trilogy stuff, and also a handful of early stage concept figures from the Episode I production process.  A few of the heavy hitters got some variants this way, especially Obi-Wan, whose Cold Weather variant I’m looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Obi-Wan Kenobi — Cold Weather Gear was released during Star Wars: Power of the Jedi’s second year in 2001.  He’s one of two Obi-Wan concept variants from that year.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  Obi-Wan was sporting an all-new sculpt for his all-new cold weather gear design.  The gear design is pretty consistent with the other looks we’ve seen in Star Wars, bringing to mind the Hoth looks for sure.  The sculpt captures it well, with minimal pre-posing, and an extensive level of detailing that’s all pretty sharp.  The design’s a little limiting on the movement front, especially on the hips, but it’s not as bas as some.  The head sculpt is, to my eyes, the strongest McGregor likeness of the ’99-’01 run, generally just hitting the mark a bit better than the others.  It lacks the Padawan braid and the rat tail is pressed into the head, rather than sticking out, making him far less prone to breaking as well.  His color work brings to mind Han’s Hoth Gear, or the toy version at least, which is a decent set-up.  It’s always nice to see a little bit of blue on a Star Wars figure, especially in this era.  Obi-Wan was packed with a lightsaber, removable cap with goggles, and a survival pack.  The lightsaber is notably missing the black detailing on the hilt, which is a bit of a step down.  The paint on the visor of the goggles is also quite prone to rubbing off, due to the soft rubber construction, but it’s otherwise a very cool piece.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m fairly certain this was my first Power of the Jedi figure.  I’d seen a fair number of figures from the line, but I remember this guy showing up in ToyFare, and thinking he looked super cool, so I kept my eye out for him.  He was ultimately a comic book store purchase, if I recall, probably Comics to Astonish, which tended to have the best off the beaten path selection of newer Star Wars figures at the time.  I’ve always really liked this one, and time hasn’t really changed that.  He’s quite a fun variant.

#4091: Obi-Wan Kenboi – Jedi Knight

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OBI-WAN KENOBI — JEDI KNIGHT

STAR WARS: EPISODE I (HASBRO)

“As the invasion of Naboo rages outside, Jedi apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi battles the evil Sith Lord, Darth Maul, in a fierce lightsaber duel. The outcome could change the galaxy forever!”

It’s a bit like a game of ping-pong with the Star Wars: Episode I figures, right?  Obi-Wan to Qui-Gon to Obi-Wan to Qui-Gon.  And just like that, we’re back to Obi-Wan!  Can you believe there’s another Obi-Wan? Well, probably, because you saw the title, and then the photo, and now you’ve read his bio and also my opening remarks about him, which all adds up to another Obi-Wan.  So, here we go, looking at another Obi-Wan!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Obi-Wan Kenobi — Jedi Knight is a 2000 release for Hasbro’s Star Wars: Episode I line, part of an assortment meant to coincide with the film’s home video release.  The aim was to re-introduce some main looks, so that’s really what he does.  He’s another basic Obi-Wan.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  Though the prior year had granted the Jedi characters extra movement, the second year of the line returned to the basic set-up used in Power of the Force.  It’s not amazing or anything, but it’s fine.  The sculpt was all-new, and would more or less remain unique.  It’s different from the others.  Arguably, it’s a bit better, at least in some sense.  It’s a more standard pose, and it goes for a mixed media approach, with a cloth skirt piece to his tunic, as well as an actual braid piece.  His head sculpt is notably a closer match to McGregor than the earlier offerings, and it’s aided by not having the weird plastic braid blocking his articulation or being at risk of breakage.  The sculpt is otherwise kind of basic, but does what it needs to.  His color work isn’t too involved, but works well enough.  The colors match the earlier figures well, and the application is all pretty clean.  Obi-Wan is packed with his lightsaber, communicator, and a CommTech stand, which, rather amusingly describes him as “Jedi Padawan,” in contrast with the figure’s title.  I don’t believe we’d gotten the communicator before, so it’s a neat extra.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

In 2000, I already had three Obi-Wans from Phantom Menace, and I don’t think there was any way I was convincing my parents to buy me a fourth, even if I knew it existed at the time, which, admittedly, I didn’t.  I’ve only come to know about this one in more recent years, and I didn’t exactly jump on it.  But, with Power of the Force wrapped up, and me jumping back into what I owned of Episode I, I felt a little twinge of a need to have all the standard Episode I Obi-Wans, and this one was pretty easy for me to snag from Yesterday’s Fun while I was on vacation this year with my family.  He’s not anything particularly crazy or notable, but he’s intriguing from a progression of the line sort of perspective.

#4085: Huntress, Galatea, & Superman

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HUNTRESS, GALATEA, & SUPERMAN

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED (MATTEL)

Today, I’m jumping back to Justice League Unlimited, a line I haven’t talked about in quite some time.  Okay, it was just back in 2024, which isn’t crazy long ago, but there was a stretch in 2023, where it made up a good bulk of my prep reviews for my daughter’s impending arrival.  I did, like, 13 reviews in that stretch, which is a lot.  And then only three since.  Admittedly, I blew through a lot of my backlog.  Anyway, today I’m looking at a whole three of them at once, with Huntress, Galatea, and Superman!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Huntress, Galatea, and Superman were released as a three-pack in the second wave of Mattel’s Justice League Unlimited line post-move to the larger DC Universe branding in 2008.  The set is based on the Cadmus arc that wrapped up the show’s second season, most specifically “Panic in the Sky” which is the episode that actually features all three, though their interaction was minimal.

HUNTRESS

Huntress goes from bit player to major focus in the show’s second season.  This was actually the fourth release of this figure, following two prior three-pack offerings and a single.  She was still kind of rare at this point, so it was certainly appropriate.  Huntress actually has two looks in the show; this figure goes for the second, which is the one that she got once she was actually in focus, so it makes sense.  The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall and she has 5 points of articulation.  The articulation’s really more an experiment in theory than anything proper, since the neck is limited by the hair, the hips are v-cuts, and the arms can’t quite swing past the legs.  She’s using the generic female body, which was never one of the line’s strongest.  She does at least get a new head and cape, and they’re both rather nice.  The head in particular is quite sharply detailed and does a good job of capturing the animation model for the character.  The paint work is actually pretty clean and crisp on this one, which is not always the norm for this line, so it’s a pleasant change-up.  While the three-packs tended not to do accessories, Huntress does at least get a stand, which is good, because the base body has a rough time with standing.

GALATEA

Galatea is this set’s one unique figure, which makes sense, her being pretty specifically tied to the Cadmus thing.  She’s based on her one look, with its Power Girl inspiration.  Like Huntress, she’s using the standard female base body, for better or for worse.  The left leg is extra warped on my copy, which is a bit annoying.  She has a unique head and it’s…well, it’s unique.  And that’s good.  It’s very good that they never used it again, because boy does it not look great.  Admittedly, that might also be somewhat paint.  The eyes are just totally off, which makes her look more than a little bit dopey.  Otherwise, the paint is kind of sparse, leaving out a lot of details from her costume.  She gets the display stand, like Huntress, which is great, because she really can’t stand without it.

SUPERMAN

Superman was another re-pack, and one that had been repacked, like, a lot.  They had moved away from the extra posable variants of the main team by this point, which was actually for the better, because the original sculpts were a bit better.  I reviewed the original figure way back in 2014, and he’s really just the same here.  Yay for consistency?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As noted in her particular spot of the review, Huntress was rather rare during the line’s run, even with her multiple releases.  I think I saw her once, and foolishly passed on her.  I’ve been keeping an eye out since.  When I was visiting Power Comics while down in South Carolina last month, they happened to have this set, so I mixed it in with the stack of Toy Biz Marvel I bought.  Huntress is a really nice figure, and I’m glad I finally have one.  Galatea is, conversely, really bad.  But, I guess she was along for the ride.  Could be worse, I suppose.  And hey, I have another Superman.  Cool.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0081: Funland Robot

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Flashback Friday Figure Addendum and tagged with , , , , ,

FUNLAND ROBOT

SCOOBY DOO (EQUITY MARKETING)

It’s Friday once again everybody.  Welcome to Friday.  Hooray.  For my Flashback Friday Figure Addendums, I’m more often than not dealing with Marvel or Star Wars, but today I’m changing that up a bit, and we’re revisiting one of my very few Scooby-Doo reviews, for a second look at the Funland Robot!

Scooby Doo where are you?  That’s actually a good question to ask when examining my action figure collection.  You see, I own exactly 2 figures from Scooby Doo, and neither of them is the title character (or Shaggy for that matter).  It’s not that I don’t like Scooby Doo, or anything.  Just, for whatever reason, I never really picked up any of the figures outside of the two that I had a specific interest in owning.  Today’s figure comes from my favorite episode of the original series, “Foul Play in Funland.”  The episode was a bit out of the ordinary, as it featured an out of control robot named Charlie, which actually turned out to be an out of control robot, not some guy in a mask pretending to be one.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Funland Robot was released as part of the second series of Scooby Doo figures released in 2000 by Equity Marketing, Inc.  He stands about 9 inches tall and features 7 points of articulation.  The sculpt is fairly basic, but that’s pretty accurate to the show.  I feel that the head might be a bit to long for Charlie’s design on the show, but it isn’t too terrible, especially since Charlie did have a tendency to look different from frame to frame.  For the most part, Charlie is molded in the appropriate colors, with minimal paint for the gloves, boots, and then most of the paintwork appearing on the head.  There’s a few questionable choices, chief among them being that Charlie seems a bit too bright for the character on the show.  In particular, his torso being pink seems to be quite off, as it was more of a darker purple in the show.  The head is overall well done, though there is an odd choice to paint most of the jaw a pale indigo color.  I’m not really sure why they did that, since it should just be the same color as the rest of the face, which would have actually saved them a pass with the paint.  Oh well.  The Funland Robot was packed with a giant magnet that could be attached to his back, and a funhouse mirror.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Charlie’s always been one of my favorite characters from the old Scooby Doo series.  He’s the main point of my favorite episode, plus he’s also a robot, which is one of my favorite things, so he just added up to a whole lot of cool.  When the Funland Robot was announced back in 2000, I knew I most definitely wanted one.  My parents paid close attention to this, and he was amongst my birthday gifts for that year.  While he may not be a perfect figure, he’s one that I really enjoy.

This is quite an early review for me, running in February of 2014.  While I think I had generally gotten the hang of my writing style by that point, but I was still running most of my reviews with a single index photo, rather than the more involved set-up I’ve gotten to nowadays.  Missing from my original review were his magnet and funhouse mirror, which I have since returned to him.  They’re goofy, but fun.  Also, I originally said this figure was a birthday present, but he was actually in my Easter basket that year.  He remains a favorite of mine, and is also a favorite of my daughter Aubrey, who has in the last few months become rather obsessed with Scooby-Doo, with “Foul Play at Funland” as a particular interest for her.  Gee, I wonder where she gets that?

#4041: The Ventriloquist with Scarface

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

THE VENTRILOQUIST with SCARFACE

BATMAN (HASBRO)

“When paired with the puppet known as SCARFACE, mild-mannered ARNOLD WESKER becomes THE VENTRILOQUIST—one of Batman’s greatest criminal foes.  Wesker channels his dark side through his crime lord style dummy.  When the two are together, Scarface’s evil influence over his partner in crime is absolute.”

Since Batman: The Animated Series needed to fill out a syndication order’s worth of episodes, and its producers didn’t want to get too repetitive with the same few rogues, they had to delve into some of the lesser known villains.  In addition to revamping older villains (most famously Mr. Freeze), they also brought in a smaller number of newer foes.  One of the most recent choices at the time was The Ventriloquist, chosen because the producers felt he fit well with the pseudo period piece vibe of BTAS.  It aided the character’s recognition, and helped him become a rather memorable second tier rogue, appearing in multiple shows since BTAS wrapped up.  While not the most prevalent sort of character in terms of toys, he was one of the small handful of new characters introduced during Hasbro’s run with the license.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Ventriloquist with Scarface was released as part of the “Puppets of Crime” boxed set, released under Hasbro’s generic Batman line in 2002.  Arnold was noteworthy for being the only new figure in the set, which was otherwise re-packs.  The figure is just under 5 inches tall and has 4 points of articulation.  His articulation is really, really restricted, to the point that he’s effectively just kind of a statue.  There’s no movement in the legs, instead just a waist swivel, and while he’s got shoulder swivels, the posing of the arms means they get very little play.  You can sort of move his head back and forth, so that’s cool.  Also, without any leg movement, it can be a little tricky to find that sweet spot for keeping him standing.  His sculpt is based on his BTAS design, which is his more conventionally approachable look.  Generally speaking, it’s a good take on the look.  The head in particular is pretty on the mark, capturing Arnold’s reserved expression well.  The body sculpt’s got the crazy pre-posing going on which is odd.  I mean, the arms are sensible enough, since they’re meant for holding the Scarface puppet.  The legs, though, are weird in their wide stance and inward-pointing feet.  Maybe it’s supposed to be a balance thing, but it doesn’t quite work out.  In the show, he just stood with his legs together.  That, with maybe a display stand, would have gone a long way.  Also an odd is the coloring, which for some reason gives him a tan suit.  Why tan?  It’s not like it’s a particularly exciting color to shift to.  Maybe the tan plastic was cheaper.    The Ventriloquist was packed with Scarface, the most sensible possible accessory for him.  It’s a pretty good piece, nicely scaled to the main figure, and matching the show model.  Even the coloring’s not as wonky on him.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I somehow managed to miss all of the Ventriloquist and Scarface episodes of Batman when they aired, so I didn’t have much of an attachment to the character.  After the fact, I did find particular enjoyment in his lone TNBA appearance.  This figure (and the rest of the set he came from) actually was a Christmas gift to my brother in 2002, not me.  But, as a three-year-old, he had minimal interest in a guy in a suit, so this guy found his way into my collection.  He’s not the most play-worthy figure, but he’s still pretty cool, and surprisingly on the mark for a figure of this era for Hasbro.

#4037: Catwoman

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

CATWOMAN

BATMAN (HASBRO

“SELINA KYLE is a daring and strong-minded woman with a passion for cats.  As Catwoman, her headstrong ways often tempt her into reckless criminal behavior, but her morals have brought her into close cooperation with BATMAN more than once.  Knowing that her cat-like grace makes her the ideal burglar, Catwoman can’t turn down The Penguin’s challenge to purloin the prized Crest of Gotham City.  Catwoman’s weapons, a powerful whip and claw gauntlets, also serve as escape tools—but can they help her escape the Penguin’s insidious trap?”

When she first appeared as “The Cat” in Batman #1, Selina Kyle was unquestionably a villain, and would remain so for a good many decades after that, though she always maintained a flirtatious relationship with Batman, in the comics and other media.  By the ‘90s, the comics had started presenting Catwoman as more of an anti-hero, so in Batman: The Animated Series, Selina never serves as a proper antagonist to the heroes, more often then not an ally, at worst an unwitting pawn in a larger villain’s game.  It’s become kind of the defining take on the character, and honestly, good for her.  Selina’s no stranger to the toy game, but ultimately only got one proper figure during the Animated run, which I’m looking at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Catwoman was, like last week’s Robin, released in the 2001 “Revenge of the Penguin” boxed set, under Hasbro’s wider Batman banner.  She’s effectively just a re-release of Kenner’s original Animated tie-in figure from 1992, and she would see an additional (and truly identical) release from Hasbro in 2003’s “Girls of Gotham City” boxed set.  The figure stands 4 1/4 inches tall and has 5 points of articulation…or close to it.  She’s got a spring-loaded feature in her right shoulder, which brings it back down when you raise it, meant for use in conjunction with her included whip.  While visually unobtrusive, it means the shoulder doesn’t actually hold any poses, which is a bit of a bummer.  Beyond that, she’s got v-hips, which are never my favorite, and result in the figure being rather hard to pose.  The sculpt is the one originated by Kenner in 1992, and it’s…fine.  It’s not bad, but it’s a little more pre-posed than other figures from the same line, a little hard to get standing, and also she’s got a very stubby neck.  Stubby is honestly just a pretty good descriptor for her in general, and it’s not quite in keeping with her more slender frame from the show.  That said, all of the figures in the early run were a little stubby, so she’s not in the worst of company.  Catwoman’s paint work is a decent match for how she looked on the show, and unlike the Robin from the same set, she doesn’t get saddled with any really out there shades or color replacements.  The only notable thing here is that she’s a bit wall-eyed, which can look rather silly.  Her eyes are a darker shade of green than the original figure, one of two notable changes on this release.  Like her original release, Catwoman includes her whip, a pair off claw gauntlets, and a small figurine of her cat Isis.  Isis is black for this release, in contrast to the grey of the original.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The original animated Catwoman was totally gone from shelves when I started collecting, so my default version of her for many years was the Legends of Batman version, until I got this set for Christmas in 2001.  Robin was my main focus, but I remember being quite pleased to get a proper Catwoman figure as well.  She’s far from perfect, but she’s also far from bad, and I think there’s more to like than to dislike, whichever version of her you might get.

#4033: Robin

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

ROBIN

BATMAN (HASBRO)

“The son of gifted circus acrobats, DICK GRAYSON was left an orphan when a two-bit extortionist sabotaged his parents’ high-wire act.  Bruce Wayne, who lost his own family to a senseless crime, felt an instant connection to the boy and took him in.  Eventually, Wayne revealed his secret identity to the talented young man and made him his crime-fighting apprentice.  Now, as Robin, Grayson is a skilled and quick-minded fighter in his own right, and Batman’s most trusted comrade in justice.”

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve reviewed a proper figure of Dick Grayson as Robin.  Nightwing sure, but for Robin, we’re going back to 2021.  Heck of a jump.  For specifically the animated version, we’re talking about 2016.  Whole decade.  Anyway, 15 years before *that*, the DC license was still held by Hasbro, who were really just largely running on the remnants of what Kenner had done before, more or less just focussing on the Batman side of things until handing off the license to Mattel.  On the animated side, they did a lot of boxed sets, revisiting old molds and themes.  While predominantly focussed on the New Adventures era, there were a few The Animated Series figure mixed in as well, including today’s Robin figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Robin was released in the 2001 “Revenge of the Penguin” boxed set, under Hasbro’s wider Batman banner.  At this point, the bulk of the line was Mission Masters, but the boxed sets didn’t sport that title, rather just sticking with a rather generic “Batman.”  “Revenge of the Penguin” was a totally BTAS themed set, which was rare, sporting Robin, a Penguin I previously reviewed, Catwoman, and a wonky Batman variant.  The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He’s a total mold re-use of the Kenner animated Robin from 1992 (which had previously been used by Hasbro a year prior in their Spectrum of the Bat line), itself a neck-down re-use of the Batman Returns Robin figure from 1991.  At the time of this release, most of the mold was a decade old, which, honestly?  It’s not bad.  In part, it fits in fine due to how much Hasbro stagnated with the license, of course.  When you’re aiming to do as few new molds as possible, you aim to make them work match the ones you’ve already got.  It’s…well, it’s fine for its original intended use, as a realistic take on what would become the comics Tim Drake costume. It’s less ideal for an animated Dick Grayson, whose outfit was streamlined a bit, and who never sported anything close to the musculature detailed on this figure.  The head was at least an okay take on Dick’s original animation model, if perhaps a bit flattened and soft on detailing.  It did fit well with the other figures from the Kenner line, though.  He keeps the original’s two-tone cloth cape, which remains a pretty impressive piece for the scale.  A little unnatural in how it hangs, but generally very cool.  His paint marks the main change-up here.  In a general sense, it’s not drastically different, but the colors lean more toward the Mission Masters palette, where the flesh tones were very pale, the greens were more neon, and the “warm” colors were colder.  The actual application’s generally fine (though the black paint was really prone to wear), and he even gets an additional paint app on the neck, under the cape.  There’s a sculpted spot there that’s clearly meant to be a different shade than the rest of the torso, and the original just left it red.  This one…makes it green?  Still not a match for the cape, but points for effort.  Robin was packed with a missile launcher and missile.  It was originally packed with the Legends of Batman Crusader Batman, and it was one of Hasbro’s favorite accessories of this era, no matter how illogical or ill-suited it was to the figure it was packed with.  At least it’s in colors that match?

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since I missed the main runs of the Animated figures, the boxed sets were really my personal jumping on point for the style, and served as my earliest versions of a lot of the characters.  They were almost always birthday or Christmas gift fodder from family members, and this particular set was the latter, given to me by my Nanna.  Robin was my main interest.  I’d been making do with the Total Justice Robin as a stand-in for this look for far too long at this point, and was happy to get a better approximation.  He’s got some quirks of this era, but given how lazy and odd most of the late-run Hasbro DC product was, he’s honestly not bad.  He may be little more than a re-issue, but he was at least a decent choice for one, and one I definitely was glad to have then, and am still glad to have now.

#3995: Wuher

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

WUHER

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (HASBRO)

“The surly human Wuher saw a lot of action while working at the seedy Mos Eisley cantina. His policy not to allow droids in the establishment was facilitated by a droid detector unit. Upon entering the cantina with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker, R2-D2 and C-3PO were promptly ousted.”

Oh good, an action figure of a racist.  That sure sounds fun.  Like, here’s a guy so racist that it’s, like, his second most defining trait.  It’s Wuher! Who’s Wuher?  Well, he’s a bartender and he’s racist.  How do we know that?  Because his one bit of dialogue is delivered from behind the bar, and it’s about how he’s a racist.  So, you know, that’s who the guy is.  Anyway, here’s an action figure of the aforementioned racist.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wuher was offered in February of 2000 as a Fan Club-exclusive figure in the Star Wars: Power of the Force II line (which was now under the Hasbro brand, following the release of the Episode I tie-in product).  He was originally meant to be an early Fan Club-exclusive, before a wider retail release, but retailers weren’t interested, so that plan was scrapped.  However, like some of the other Fun Club figures, quantities of him ended up at Toys “R” Us later down the line, at discount prices.  Wuher’s packaging shows off the last handful of figures from the line, all from the last assortment, which kept up the CommTech gimmick from the Episode I line.  Curiously, it also shows off a Chewbacca figure that would ultimately be released under Power of the Jedi, sans CommTech.  But what of Wuher himself?  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation.  While others in the last assortment got improved movement, Wuher maintained the basic approach from the bulk of the line.  His sculpt was all-new at the time, but would be mostly repurposed for a two-pack release in different colors in 2004.  It regards to capturing the schlubby and dirty racist guy, it does it pretty well.  His face has a more than passing resemblance to actor Ted Burnett, who played Wuher in the film, and he’s got that appropriate slack jawed sort of sneering look he had during his one bit of dialogue.  The body sculpt is on par with earlier offerings from the line, so it’s basic, but it works.  Perhaps the oddest quirk about it is that the glass in his right hand is permanently molded there, which is an odd choice to say the least.  The 2004 release would alter the mold to him a more normal hand.  The color work here is, much like the sculpt, rather basic, but there’s some more intricate work on the face, which makes him appropriately scruffy.  The glass is once again an issue, with some rather obscenely sloppy paint around the edges on that one.  Wuher is packed with his droid detector unit (for all of his racist needs), which is a neat enough piece, albeit hollow on the back side, as well as a CommTech stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I make my way closer and closer to completing my Power of the Force collection, I’ve started encountering some of the slightly odder releases.  Wuher’s one of those, because he’s not particularly pricey, but he’s also not all that common (admittedly, none of the 2000 figures really are).  So, I was pleasantly surprised to find him sitting on a dealer’s table at Ocean City Comic Con last year, mixed in with a bunch of others more common offerings, for a good price.  He’s….fine.  I mean, it’s not like Wuher’s a great character with a great look.  So, this figure really does the best it can, and it honestly looks pretty great behind the bar in the Cantina playset, and that in and of itself is pretty cool.