Tag Archives: 00s

#4151: Clone Trooper — 501st Legion

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

CLONE TROOPER — 501st LEGION

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“The clone trooper forces are gathering together for their next mission – and they want you to join them! With your own Republic Army Identification Card, you can become a member of the most elite fighting force in the galaxy. Your destiny awaits – join today!”

Listen up, here’s the story, about a little guy who lives in a blue world, and all day and all night and everything he see’s is just blue, like him, inside and outside.  

Oh, hey there, didn’t see you guys come in, you know, here on the website.  I was just singing thematically and what not.  What about?  Today’s Star Wars review, who’s another Clone, but his gimmick?  Well, he’s blue.  Da-ba-dee, da-ba-di.  Or some such.  The original clones were blue when they were Lieutenants, but by the time of Revenge of the Sith, the colors signified Legions and Battalions, not ranks.  The blue was then shifted to Anakin’s Legion, the 501st, and The Clone Wars would retroactively make the blue markings on Phase I armor represent the 501st.  And that’s how we get where we are now, looking that this rather blue figure today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Clone Trooper — 501st Legion was released right around the same time as the initial Star Wars: The Clone Wars tie-in push in 2008, designed to coincide with the theatrical film’s release.  He was a Walmart exclusive, seemingly chosen by color, much like his counterpart Commander Fox.  Unlike Fox, however, the 501st Trooper didn’t suffer a price bump, instead maintaining the standard price point for the line.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 24 points of articulation.  The 501st Trooper uses the exact same mold as the original basic Clone Trooper mold from the line’s launch.  While it’s not quite as show accurate, it remains my favorite standard clone sculpt for this line, so I love seeing all of its uses, even if there aren’t all that many of them.  The paint work is where this guy changes things up, of course, with the most obvious change-up being the addition of the blue markings that signify he’s from the 501st.  The exact shade of blue used was always a bit back and forth.  This one’s on the lighter side, in contrast to the much darker blue used on the Rex from the initial launch.  It’s an odd bit of inconsistency, but I don’t hate the blue chosen here, so I’m not really complaining.  In addition to the extra details, the 501st Trooper also removes the heavy wash from the original clone, so that this guy ends up looking a fair bit cleaner.  While Fox, despite his higher price point, actually had less accessories than the figure whose mold he was sharing, the 501st Trooper not only gets the medium blaster and rocket launcher included with the standard Clone, but also includes the long blaster as well.  The blasters have a slightly brighter silver wash than the main assortment counterparts, which makes them look rather unique.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve never been much of a Walmart shopper, but I was especially not one when this figure hit, especially because the one closest to my parents house had an atrocious toy section, so there was no chance I was going to find this guy.  I knew he existed, and always kind of wanted one, but it just wasn’t really meant to be, at least not until later.  The first one of these I came across actually wound up going to Max, who also really wanted one, and I was already getting a bunch of other clones at the same time, so I let it slide.  When he decided to thin out his collection a few years later, I still hadn’t gotten one, so he passed it along to me, and here he is, having been in my collection for a bit now.  Like most of the early clones from this line, he’s a pretty fantastic all around figure, and just a lot of fun.

#4150: Jetstorm

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

JETSTORM

BEAST MACHINES (McDONALD’S)

In this site’s 14 year run, there have been only two McDonald’s Happy Meal toy reviews, and only one of them was actually written by me.  These days, they don’t tend to be anything all that impressive, but back in the day, back in the ‘90s?  Well, also then they were frequently not that impressive, let’s all be honest.  But every so often you got some that went above the grade.  Offered something at the very least close to the level of quality you might actually even intentionally pay money for.  Today’s one of those.  Let’s talk about Beast Machines.  After a successful three season run with Beast Wars, Hasbro decided they wanted a sequel show, with the remaining cast of Wars returning to Cybertron after leaving prehistoric Earth, and facing Megatron and his army of Vehicons.  While Beast Wars was certainly no stranger to some pathos and serializing of the story, Machines took it even further, and the results were…well, they were mixed to say the least.  Between the two shows, two of the surviving Maximals, Silverbolt and Rhinox, found their sparks reformatted and transferred over to the bodies of two of the Vehicon generals, Jetstorm and Tankor.  Intrigue!  Silverbolt’s kinda my guy when it comes to Beast Wars, so keeping with that theme, I do also kinda like Jetstorm, and I’m looking at his Happy Meal toy today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Jetstorm was released as one of the 9 available toys in McDonald’s Beast Machines promotion, which ran in August of 2000, alongside the show’s second season’s debut.  They covered pretty much the whole core cast of the show, with figures that could transform into both modes for the characters, at least to some degree.  In his robot mode, Jetstorm is about 3 1/2 inches tall (I won’t say “stands” for reasons I’ll get to shortly) and he has 7 workable points of articulation.  So, why not “stands?” Because he really doesn’t.  In the show, Jetstorm would simply hover around when in his robot mode, and as such doesn’t *really* have legs.  The Hasbro figures (which were all quite off model) just gave him legs.  This one, on the other hand…well, you can split the nose of his jet mode in two and make it sort of sit flat, so there’s I guess sort of a way to make him stand like that.  It’s not really very stable, though, and obviously not accurate.  For most of the photos, as you can see, I’ve got him on a flight stand I personally provided, but he’s otherwise not great with remaining upright.  How’s that sculpt, though?  Honestly?  Not terrible.  Sure, he’s kind of chunky and clunky and all the other “unkies,” but compared to what Hasbro put out in the main line, it’s probably the closest any Jetstorm figure gets to actually being show accurate.  He’s even kind of posable, and also pretty decently painted, again, given the market here.  He transforms into his jet-mode, as you would expect, and it’s obviously gonna be pretty simple, but it works well, and the mode is sufficiently different from the robot one, as well as being decently accurate to the show model.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I watched a *little* Beast Wars when it was on, but not much.  Beast Machines, on the other hand, I actually saw a lot of in its first run.  Fox Kids was also running Avengers: United They Stand and Digimon in ’99, so I got into pretty much watching the whole block, Machines included.  I didn’t *love* it, but I dug the Jetstorm stuff, and then some re-runs of Wars caught me up to speed on Silverbolt, and I really liked him, so that kind of stuck.  Back in 2000, my cousin Rusty got this guy, and he didn’t really care about it, so I ultimately got to keep it, and I always rather liked it.  I couldn’t tell you what happened to it over the years, but I missed it.  Seven years working at a toy store gives you a lot of access to pretty much everything, so I did eventually see this guy come through, and Max pretty much forced me to take him home.  He really had to twist my arm on that one, I swear.  He’s fun.  He’s basic and clunky, and definitely a toy that came packaged with some food, but within the confines of what he is, he’s really cool.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0096: Time Traveler

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

TIME TRAVELER

MICRONAUTS (PALISADES)

Welcome to Friday everyone! We made it! Hooray!  And I’m here to talk about Micronauts, for a second time in the same week!  Is that even legal?  We’ll find out, I guess.  Here’s a second look at the Time Traveler!

Mego’s Micronauts line of the ‘70s was never a super huge hit, and it was definitely overshadowed by the many toys first toylines of the ‘80s, but it does still have something of a cult following. This cult following helped get the line a relaunch in the early 2000s, courtesy of fan-favorite toy company Palisades. Palisades put a lot of effort into bringing Micronauts back. Sadly, the line was cursed with several pretty awful factory issues, causing the final figures to suffer, hurting the sales of what was already a pretty niche line. This came back to bite Palisades pretty hard, leading to the end of their Micronauts line after just two full series, and their eventual bankruptcy. Kind of a bummer. So hey, how ‘bout those figures, though? Let’s have a look at what is perhaps the most iconic of all Micronauts figures, the Time Traveler!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Time Traveler was part of the first series of Palisades’ Micronauts line. The figure was available in four possible color schemes, two transparent and two opaque. This one is the clear translucent one, which is a pretty direct recreation of one of the original Time Travelers, with just a few minor differences. He’s 3 ¾ inches tall and he has 18 points of articulation, same as his 70s predecessor. Sculpturally, this figure is more or less identical to the original version, but there are a few differences to note. The real differences are on the head, which is a little thinner than the original and features a higher level of detail work. It’s certainly a higher quality sculpt than the original, though I’m not sure I prefer it to the original. It’s in that weird area of being a more modernized sculpt that still possesses many of the style tics of the vintage toy, but without the nostalgic charm. The Time Traveler possesses no actual paint, but his head and all of his chest plates are done in a nice vac-metalized gold. The golden head is actually another change from the vintage figures, where all of the Time Travelers were silver. While the original Time Traveler figures each only included a single chest plate, chosen at random from the four possible designs, Palisades’ Time Traveler included all four of the original plates, as well as two new designs (though, I could only find four of the chest plates when I went to take the pictures!). My personal favorite is the “windows” piece, but they’re all pretty cool. The Time Traveler also included the L-port piece from the original figure, as well as a black display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Palisades’ Micronauts line, amongst other things, was not super easy to find, especially before the introduction of all the online toy buying options we now have. I did end up finding a Time Traveler at an out of the way toy store around the time of release, but it wasn’t this one. Unfortunately, the first series figures were incredibly fragile and he ended up breaking, which was a definite bummer. I ended up getting this guy many years later, courtesy of the Toy Robot Museum, near Allentown, PA. Even with all of the factory issues and the slight changes from the originals, this guy’s a lot of fun, and I’m definitely glad I managed to find one.

In October of 2015, I decided to rip the band-aid off on discussing Palisades’ Micronauts, and really did just jump right into it there, huh?  Back when they were new, I was downright obsessed with the Palisades run, but I only owned four of them during the line’s actual run. It was ultimately better that way, I think, because it’s a frustrating line.   My review holds up fine, but I was missing two of the chest plates at the time, which I’ve since found again.  Unfortunately, in the mean time, he’s also succumb to the dreaded Series 1 quality control issues, and one of his elbow joints has cracked, so these new photos are *very* carefully staged.  I do still love these figures, but it’s definitely better from afar.

#4147: Commander Fox

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

COMMANDER FOX

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“Commander Fox heads a squad of clone troopers who accompany Padmé to the palace of Ziro the Hutt. She hopes to reopen negotiations with the Hutts, who have been tricked into believing the Jedi abducted Jabba’s son. The commander finds a hostile reception when the group arrives at Ziro’s lavish palace on Coruscant.”

The last time I was talking about Clone Wars, it was the Genndy Tartakovsky 2D-animated series, which actually aired between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, but there’s *another* Clone Wars animated series, launched with a 2008 theatrical film that served as the pilot to the show, which ran for seven seasons over the course of 12 years, and actually got a lot more toy coverage.  A lot of toy coverage that I happen to own, so behold, a new Star Wars theme for me to dive into for a good long while!  The back bone of Hasbro’s Clone Wars tie-in line was, unsurprisingly, the clones, and today I’m looking at one of those, Clone Commander Fox!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Commander Fox was released early on in Hasbro’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars tie-in line, right around the initial launch assortment and the theatrical release of the movie in 2008.  He was an exclusive release to a retail chain that shares his taste in being primarily red.  And also his taste in just being…the worst.  And turning on the people that trusted them.  Man, maybe Fox was a better fit for an exclusive than any of us knew in 2008.  I’m getting side-tracked though, aren’t I?  Fox was a standard packaged figure stuck into a clamshell, which was used to justify charging an extra $6 for him, which didn’t go over well at the time, but then people bought him anyway, so I guess no lesson was really learned.  Fox was seen here in his Phase I armor, which was all we knew him in at the time.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 24 points of articulation.  Fox was entirely built from parts re-used from other figures in the launch assortment.  He’s predominantly the first Captain Rex figure, minus the removable pauldron and with the alternate helmeted head from the first Obi-Wan.  While the parts aren’t bad at all on their own, it’s a slightly awkward combo, mostly owing to the fact that the head sits a bit too high on the neck joint, so he’s got a bit of giraffe neck going on.  Otherwise, the figure’s mostly being sold by the new paint scheme.  The red seems a bit too dark, and the application’s a bit sloppy around the edges, but he’s at the very least pretty unique.  Fox is packed with a DC-15 long blaster rifle, and a pair of DC-17 blaster pistols.  He was notably lacking in the missile launcher style accessory that prominently featured in the early line releases, despite his much higher price point.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I recall Fox being released back in ’08, but I never actually saw one at retail, so I never had a chance to debate whether he was worth the extra money or not.  2008 me probably would have caved, if I’m honest.  That said, it was actually 2019 me that ultimately did the caving, when I got the chance to snag a sealed one through work at a stretch of time where he’d actually fallen a bit in value.  It’s honestly wild that he was so much more expensive than the main line, because he feels rather behind where most of this line was.  He’s certainly not bad, mostly by virtue of working from a really good bank of parts, but he’s a little awkward in his assembly, and he just has this overwhelming feeling of being rather phoned in.  Hasbro just hadn’t quite worked out how to make these repainted exclusive clones work to their advantage just yet for the line.

#4143: Biker Scout

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

BIKER SCOUT

STAR WARS: THE LEGACY COLLECTION (HASBRO)

Oh, we are just rolling through different Star Wars lines around here, aren’t we?  Well, next week I’m settling into a theme that should run for a bit, but before I do that, let’s take another stab into the proverbial dark with a one-off from a line I didn’t really collect, The Legacy Collection.  But, it had a Biker Scout, and I sure do like a Biker Scout action figure, so I sure did get one of those.  So, let’s look at that Biker Scout figure, which I sure am reviewing today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Biker Scout was released in Hasbro’s Star Wars: The Legacy Collection in 2009, as figure 12 in the Build-A-Droid run, contributing a part to L8-L9.  The figure was first released as the 2006 Vintage Saga Collection Biker Scout, then again as part of the “Battle For Endor” set that same year, then in the “Shadow of the Darkside” set also in 2006, again as part of the 30th Anniversary Collection in 2007, and then finally here in 2009, with a number of re-decos and slight tweaks interspersed.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 22 points of articulation.  At this point in the line, the only things that really separate him from a modern figure in terms of movement are the t-hips, something that George Lucas himself was apparently a stickler on in regards to how the joints broke up the sculpt.  I’ve actually looked at the sculpt once before through one of its repaints, the Elite Corps release from 2006.  It’s honestly really solid for its era.  It’s accurate to the source material (and in fact a but more so than some of the later Biker Scout molds) and it moves pretty well.  The structure of the wrist and elbow joints makes his hands prone to popping off from time to time when posing the elbows, but it’s not terrible, and they go right back on.  There were some minor tweaks over the years to the exact paint work on this figure, but they all kind of added up to the same general look.  This release was generally cleaner across most of the armor, confining the dirt more to the feet.  The Biker Scout was packed with his small blaster pistol, which he can hold or holster, as well as one of the legs to L8-L9.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t buy this new, but I did buy it new-ish.  2009 was the start of my senior year of high school, so my spending was a bit more restrained at times, so a lot of stuff I might have casually picked up got overlooked.  My Star Wars focus was almost entirely on Clone Wars, so the old stuff got overlooked.  By college, I was more comfortable in my collecting again, and picking up oddball stuff when I saw it.  This guy was picked up at a mall pop-up toy shop called “Toy Zam” I wanna say?  I visiting some friends in the late fall of 2011, and found this spot in the mall.  They had a bunch of close-out Hasbro stuff from ’09, mostly junk I didn’t need, but this guy was there, and I of like a good Biker Scout.  And he is that.  He’s a good Biker Scout.  Probably my favorite Biker Scout mold, honestly (though I do remain partial to the Power of the Jedi one).

#4135: Clone Wars Volume 2 Pack 1

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

ANAKIN SKYWALKER, SAESEE TIIN, & CLONE TROOPER

STAR WARS: CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“In this time of galactic civil unrest, Anakin Skywalker sets off on a spiritual quest that foreshadows his dark destiny. Obi-Wan seeks to give strength and encouragment to his gifted student and through his guidance, Anakin is awarded the prestigious title of Jedi Knight. Meanwhile, Yoda, Mace Windu and the clone troopers battle a massive Separatist droid army that has suddenly attacked Coruscant. Led by the cunning warrior General Grievous, the Separatists succeed in kidnapping Chancellor Palpatine. Now the stage is set for a re-emergence of the Sith and the birth of a dark new Galactic Empire.”

Genndy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars was split into three “seasons” when it originally ran, with a clear division of time between season’s 2 and 3, thus splitting the series into two “volumes”.  Volume 1 maintains the aesthetics of Attack of the Clones, while Volume 2 takes everything decidedly closer to Revenge of the Sith.  While there was a notable merchandising push for the first design set-up, by the end of the series, there was less time to get things out before the larger RotS push.  What we got instead of a proper assortment of figures was two boxed sets of three, heavily leaning on pre-existing parts.  And, today, I’m looking at one of those sets.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Anakin Skywalker, Saesee Tiin, and the Clone Trooper make up “Volume 2 Pack 1,” one of four sets offered in the “Commemorative DVD Collection” of Hasbro’s Star Wars: Clone Wars tie-in line.  The set was released in 2005, before the release of Revenge of the Sith.

ANAKIN SKYWALKER

The newly knighted Anakin Skywalker spends most of Volume 2 isolated, on a mission on the planet Nelvaan, where he winds up with a rather distinctive and cool design, which is kind of torn down and sporting some pretty nifty tribal markings.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He makes use of a decent amount of tooling from the second single Anakin Skywalker release from the line.  Since they both have him sporting a sort of damaged and stripped down look, it’s a sensible choice for re-use.  He gets a new head and torso for this release, showcasing his updated design.  He actually got the most new parts of any of these multi-pack figures, since he’s got more than just a new head.  That new head is a very nice piece of work.  It captures his Sith style hair-do, and even manages to get his facial features a fair bit closer to the the model than either of the previous attempts.  The torso isn’t really different from the one on the original figure, but it lacks his vest/tunic/whatever it is.  His color work is a good match for the cartoon; in contrast to the single release figures, his skin tone is a molded plastic, rather than painted, and I think it looks a little bit better here.  He gets some more involved work on the tribal markings, which grant him some rather nice pop.  While the original Anakin used a flatter orange-ish sort if plastic for the robotic hand, this release used gold…which, though a softer plastic, is somewhat susceptible to “Gold Plastic Syndrome.”  Mine broke and has been very carefully repaired.  Anakin was packed with his lightsaber and a display stand.

SAESEE TIIN

Each of the Volume 2 packs got one new character, and this set’s new guy was Saesee Tiin.  He’s virtually a non-entity in the movies, but the 2D Clone Wars gave him a decent focus he hasn’t really gotten anywhere else.  Personally, I’d have preferred Kit Fisto, but there’s some good reasons for going with Saesee instead.  Well, mostly just the one reason, and that’s parts re-use.  It’s also the same reason that Saesee is in his standard robes, rather than his more distinctive armored appearance, because this way he can re-use the body of Obi-Wan.  It’s a rather pre-posed body, but it’s at least a good pose, and it’s a generic enough robed body to work for multiple characters.  Saesee gets a unique head sculpt, which is a solid recreation of Tartakovsky’s take on the character, right down to the broken off tip to one of his tusks.  His color work is fine, if perhaps a bit underdone.  There are definitely some spots where it just kind of ignores the sculpt, most notable the figure’s forearms, which don’t have the wraps painted.  Saesee is packed with a lightsaber and a display stand.

CLONE TROOPER

There was also a clone in each Volume 2 pack, so, you know, here’s one of those.  In Volume 2, the Clones have upgraded to their Phase II armor, which for the purposes of the animation really just means a new helmet, and for the purposes of this figure, really just means a new head.  As such, this guy’s really just the same mold I looked at last week, but with the adjusted head.  It’s decent, if maybe not amazing.  While I think the Phase II helmets look fine in a more realistic set-up, I never felt they translated as well to Tartakovsky’s style as the Phase I, and this figure really just exemplifies that.  But, it’s hardly a bad offering.  The Phase II is without any color or rank, just a basic white shiny armored guy.  Paint is respectable, if perhaps a bit fuzzy on the line-work.  The Clone Trooper is packed with his blaster rifle and a display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, the ARC Trooper (aka Fordo) was my entry into the line, and this was actually the only follow-up I got during the original run.  In fact, I very nearly missed it, but managed to find just this set, sitting off on its own right after the holiday rush in 2005.  I never saw the companion set, but always meant to track it down.  Maybe I still will one of these days.  I do like this one.  The Anakin in particular remains my favorite version of the character from the line, and honestly from the prequel era, and the other two aren’t as definitive, but they’re still fun.

#4131: Clone Lieutenant

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

CLONE LIEUTENANT

STAR WAR: CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“Through the creative vision of Lucasfilm Ltd. and the Cartoon Network, the Clone Wars are brought to life in an exciting new series of short animated chapters. A unique animation style captures the drama of this epic period in galactic history along with its outstanding heroes and adversaries. Noble Jedi warriors lead Clone Troopers into battle against the evil Separatist forces and their droid armies. Anakin, Obi-Wan, Yoda and their comrades struggle against the rising power of the dark side and confront personal challenges against a backdrop of war-torn planets.”

Undoubtedly my favorite thing to come out of the Prequel Era of Star Wars is Genndy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars, a 2D animated bridging of Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.  While the films rarely branched out beyond the core cast of characters, Clone Wars established a precedent, later followed by The Clone Wars, the 3D animated show, of placing focus on less fleshed out characters.  While its time spent with the titular clones was still a lot less than the later show would feature, they’re still a notable presence, and they made up a sizable portion of Hasbro’s tie-in line from the time…albeit mostly through a lot of repaints, but it’s kind of what you expect, right?  Okay, let’s take a look at a Clone Lieutenant.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Clone Lieutenant (who is only actually identified as “Clone Trooper” on the package, due to sharing all packaging elements with the Captain and the Commander) was released alongside the other two colored Clone variants as a late addition to the Star Wars: Clone Wars line in early 2005, before all the Revenge of the Sith product hit the shelves.  He’s based on the Phase I trooper designs, as seen in the first two seasons of the show.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 4 points of articulation.  He’s rather standard for the line on the movement front, with movement at the neck, shoulders, and waist.  They weren’t really built for poseability, but more as mini-maquettes of the show’s designs.  The Clones did get a leg up on the rest of the line, though, since they all got ball-jointed necks.  It doesn’t do a ton, but it gives him some subtle variety in his posing. He, as well as the Captain and the Commander, really just existed as way of putting the standard Clone Trooper mold back out there, so he’s just a complete re-use of that mold.  Like the rest of the line, it does a really good job of taking Tartakovsky’s designs and making them work in three dimensions.  He’s slightly pre-posed, but not in a crazy sort of way, which is ideal for a guy you’ll probably get a lot of.  Just the one raised arm for the rifle is a good look, and he’s honestly pretty stable on his feet.  The first use of the mold was all white, but the re-releases add the color markings for the different ranks.  The Lieutenant is blue, which, let’s be honest, is the coolest of the color markings.  Both literally and also in a figurative sense.  The application here is a little bit fuzzy around some of the edges, but in general, it looks alright.  The use of panel lining on the armor also does a lot to help the mold, as well as bringing it closed to animated stylings.  The Lieutenant was packed with his blaster rifle and a display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Back when these were new, the line was rather a hot commodity, so I only had a few pieces, and this guy wasn’t one of them.  In more recent years, I’ve found more of them, and in the case of this guy, I bought a lot of the recolored clone troopers, mostly just for him.  He wound up being the only one I actually got around to opening, and he’s been sitting mixed in with my 3D figures for a couple of years now.  For as simple as these figures are, I always really enjoy messing with them when I get the chance, and the Clones are really the star pieces of the line.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0091: Batgirl & Bane

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

BATGIRL & BANE

DC MINIMATES (DC DIRECT)

Well, it’s Friday again.  So, you know, there’s that.  Here it is.  We made it?  Yeah, let’s go with that.  Let’s try to liven stuff up a bit here, with a Flashback Friday Figure Addendum!  Today, we’re flashing back to some Minimates, but not just any Minimates, DC Minimates!  Let’s take a second look at Batgirl & Bane!

One of the great tragedies for many Minimates collectors was the cancellation of DC Direct’s DC Minimates after only eight series. Not only did the line present us with definitive versions of many of DC’s top characters, it also gave us some wacky side characters like Ambush Bug and Ma Hunkel, and it was the first Minimate line to push the envelope in terms of sculpting. However, the line was met with its fair share of difficulties, most notably hitting shelves when Minimates were at a low point and being gone just before they hit it big. Still, we got a decent 64 figure run, and that’s certainly better than nothing. Today I’ll be looking at two figures from the Batman side of things, Batgirl and Bane.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Batgirl and Bane were released as part of the fourth series of DC Minimates. They’re an odd pair, seing as the two have never actually met. Heck, they didn’t even exist at the same time! Anyway, they’re both Batman characters, I guess.

BATGIRL

Batgirl is built on the basic Minimate body, so she stands about 2 ½ inches tall and features 14 points of articulation. She’s based on the Barbra Gordon version of the character, in her second costume. She features a sculpted mask, cape, belt and gloves. The cape and gloves were previously used on both the series one and series three Batmen, as well as being used before that in the DC C3 line. The mask and belt are new, so as to properly depict her exposed hair and more elaborate belt design. The paint work is pretty clean on Batgirl, with no real slop, and some very sharp line work on all the transitions. This set was released during the period of time when Minimates were using full slip over masks for everyone, even characters that only had half masks, so Batgirl got a full face mask. Some figures took advantage of this and gave the figure a different facial expression on the unmasked head. Sadly, Batgirl didn’t do this, which is a shame, as it would have the unmasked face be Barbra in full librarian mode. Batgirl includes a pair of bat-cuffs and a spare hair piece to display her unmasked.

BANE

Bane demonstrates one of the unique traits of the DC Minimates line: use of the larger Minimate body. The body features the same articulation and relative proportions, but is about a half an inch taller than the basic body. So, DC used it for larger characters such as Bane here. Bane features three sculpted parts: mask, belt, and wrist gauntlet with tube that plugs into the mask. All of these pieces are new to Bane, mostly due to his use of the larger body. All of the pieces accurately capture Bane’s look from the comics, so kudos to them on that. The paint work is pretty good overall, though there a few issues. The shirt features black detailing with gray highlights, but on the edges of the torso, the gray highlights have been missed, leaving their spots flesh-toned. Also, the sides of the shirt don’t quite line up with the front. Finally, the mask, while well detailed, seems to sit a bit too low, which gives him an abnormally large head. Under the mask, there’s a fully detailed face with hair, which Is a nice touch I suppose, though I hardly see anyone displaying him this way.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As with the rest of the DC Minimates line, I purchased these two as soon as they were released. While I think they’re both well done figures, I remember being disappointed in general by the lineup for Series Four, as well as baffled by the choice to pack these two together. It’s a cool set, but it’s hard to tell what audience they were aiming for, as the two figures present appeal to two different sensibilities.

This review was from my first year, at about the 3/4 mark for the year, and boy was that first year a heavy one for Minimates.  This was my 58th Minimate review, meaning almost a quarter of my reviews at the time were Minimates.  I mean, it makes sense, but it’s crazy to think about it these days, when they’re such a rarity.

I think the actual review holds up well for the most part, but I did make an error.  Batgirl did *not* include the bat cuffs, just the alternate hairpiece.  I didn’t have a photo of that, or of Bane’s alternate unmasked look, in the original review, so I’ve included those, as well as some turnarounds, because why not?

#4123: Boba Fett – The Pit of Carkoon

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

BOBA FETT — THE PIT OF CARKOON

STAR WARS SAGA (HASBRO)

“Part of the entourage accompanying Jabbe the Hutt to the Pit of Carkoon to watch the execution of Han Solo, the infamous bounty hunter Boba Fett leaps into battle to save his life after Jabba’s sail barge is attacked by Han’s rescuers.”

You gotta really respect the moxie of Star Wars Saga, the worst Star Wars toyline, for producing two figures of Boba Fett, one of the most popular “cool guys” in Star Wars, and having them both be based on objectively his lamest moments in the franchise.  His entry into the line was kid Boba, of the “hyuuup”-ing variety, and then the one Original Trilogy figure is specifically called out as being based on the moment just before his extremely humiliating death in Return of the Jedi.  Clearly, someone at Hasbro wasn’t feeling very generous to poor Boba.  Well, I’ll do my best not to humiliate him any further.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Boba Fett — The Pit of Carkoon was figure number 08 in the 2003 assortment of Star Wars Saga, hitting in the line’s second year.  As touched on in the intro, he was the second Boba in the line, after the more direct Attack of the Clones tie-in figure from the launch assortment.  He was the first specifically Jedi-based Boba since the Power of the Force days.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation, plus a moving range-finder.  The movement on this guy is kind of interesting, because he’s more posable than was standard for the line at the time, but it’s all kind of weird.  Both legs get three joints each, but on the right leg, the two joints beneath the hip are on his knee, while the left leg puts both joints on the ankle.  His arms also both get swivels at the shoulders and the elbows, but the shoulders are tied into the action feature, so they can’t really hold a pose.  He himself is rather pre-posed, meant for a sort of firing his blaster from the hip while flying through the air pose, which…honestly, works pretty well.  Saga was frequently a mess with the over posing, but I gotta give them credit for the times they hit their mark.  The sculpt is honestly not bad.  It takes a lot of design cues from the 300th Boba, and that was a nice sculpt itself.  Hasbro rather liked this one, and wound up re-using it a lot until the more posable options came into vogue.  The only drawback of this release is the “missile” on his jetpack, which, due to doubling as the plunger used to activate his blaster firing action feature, is just the wrong shape.  The pilot Jango Fett from the prior year used the same feature, and had the same problem, but he had the other jetpack design, so it was less noticeable.  Boba’s color work is generally on the basic side.  He’s not too far off from what we were seeing with Power of the Force, which isn’t quite as technically impressive as later Fetts, but it’s also not a terrible look.  The basics are covered, and the sculpt is strong enough to shine through pretty well.  Boba was packed with his blaster rifle, a blast effect for the rifle, and a rocket blast flight stand that plugged into his jetpack.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While not my first Boba Fett, this was the first one I actively chose to get.  Well, okay, it’s the first OT Boba I actively chose to get.  The second year of figures weren’t as plentiful as the first, but showed up in some weirder spots, notably the PX at the military base where my grandparents did their grocery shopping.  I was with my Grandmother for one of her trips, and got to pick out a few Star Wars figures, which wound up being this guy, Hoth Han, and robot hand Anakin.  Boba is the last hold-out of the trio, the one that stuck with my collection through a good number of purges.  I make fun of Saga and of Boba Fett, but I can’t knock this figure.  He’s kind of a gem of the line, much like last week’s Luke.

#4119: Luke Skywalker – Bespin Duel

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

LUKE SKYWALKER — BESPIN DUEL

STAR WARS SAGA (HASBRO)

“As Luke battles Darth Vader in Cloud City, he rebuffs Vader’s attempts to mae him submit to the dark side. Wounded by Vader, Luke heroically chooses to plummet to almost certain death rather than to yield to the dark side. Managing to grab hold of a weathervane, he shrugs to hang on until his Rebel friends can rescue him.”

Well, it’s come to this.  I finished a whole run of Power of the Force reviews.  I finished my meager Episode I and Power of the Jedi collections.  Chronologically, that leaves just one thing: Star Wars Saga.  Since completely rebranding with an entirely movie centric line for Episode I didn’t turn out great for retailers when reception to the movie was lukewarm, the tie-in line for Attack of the Clones maintained the cross-franchise reach of Power of the Jedi.  Though not officially named so on the packaging, the ensuing line was dubbed “Saga” by the fanbase, a name that stuck for its three-year run.  Coupled with the Attack of the Clones figures at launch were some classics from the Original Trilogy, including today’s focus, Bespin Duel Luke Skywalker.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke Skywalker — Bespin Duel is figure 29 in the first year of Star Wars Saga.  He was designed to pair off the Bespin Duel Darth Vader, to replicate parts of their fight from Empire.  Luke is in his rebel fatigues, most commonly referred to as his “Bespin” attire, his main look for Empire, which was making its third appearance in the scale here.  The figure stands just under 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  He was notably quite posable for the time.  The line was only just starting to get into more involved articulation with Episode I and had kind of taken a bit of a step back, with Saga trending more towards really pre-posed, almost statue like figures.  While Luke still maintains some of that pre-posing, he breaks from the more static trends.  His sculpt was totally new, and unique to him (though it got re-released in its entirety a couple of times), and its a departure from a lot of the Lukes we’d seen previously.  Gone are the barrel-chested proportions of the Power of the Force days, for something that does look a lot more like the actual Mark Hammil’s build.  His new head sculpt is more expressive than earlier Lukes, capturing the moment where Luke finds out about his true parentage, scrunched up face and all.  It’s quite a detailed sculpt, and shows the stronger side of what Saga brought to the table.  It’s not entirely without the messed up parts of Saga, with the most notable issue being that his arms are just not the same length.  The posing hides it, but it’s certainly there.  The figure gets a slashing action feature, activated by pushing the button on his back, as well as a removable right hand.  There were three variants on the removable hand, one magnetic with the magnet on the stump, one magnetic with the magnet as a peg on the hand, and one with a basic plastic peg.  The one seen here is the third one, which is less flashy, but works.  Luke’s color work is actually pretty cool, because his fatigues get a pretty decent wash to bring out the details of the sculpt, and he even gets some of he blood on his face, seen in the movie.  Luke was packed with his lightsaber (which had a metal hilt that could be removed), a blaster pistol (which could be stored in the working holster on his leg), a bacta pack that goes over his stump, and a rather impressive weather vane piece for him to hang from.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Attack of the Clones is honestly the worst Star Wars movie, and Saga is probably the worst Star Wars toyline, but my deep dark secret is that I not only loved them both at the time, I also love them both now.  It’s 100% nostalgia, and I won’t remotely deny that, but they just hit at the right time for me to be super into them.  I bought a lot of the Saga figures back in the day, but also lost or sold pretty much all of them over the years.  Luke was one I owned back in the day, but he didn’t make it through unscathed.  He’s notably the only one I’ve actually gone back and replaced, because I think he’s genuinely a neat figure.  Like, not even a nostalgic thing, I think he’s just one of the best figures from the set, free of a lot of the issues that plague the rest of the line.