Tag Archives: 00s

#0963: Power Blast Invisible Woman

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

POWER BLAST INVISIBLE WOMAN

FATASTIC FOUR (TOY BIZ)

SueAlba1

The Fantastic Four haven’t really had much luck when it comes to movies. The recent Fant4stic was a total box-office bomb, of, like, epic proportions. Before that travesty, there were two other theatrical Fantastic Four movies, which weren’t bad, but were far from great. One of the more present issues with both 2005’s Fantastic Four and its sequel Rise of the Silver Surfer was the questionable casting choice of Jessica Alba as Susan Storm, aka the Invisible Woman. As is the case with just about every Marvel movie, Fantastic Four got its own line of toys, which included a couple versions of Alba’s Invisible Woman.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

SueAlba2Power Blast Invisible Woman was released as part of the first series of Toy Biz’s Fantastic Four movie tie-in. There were actually three different variations of this figure released. The figure I’m looking at today is the fully visible version, but there were also fully invisible and “half-and-half” versions available. She stands about 6 inches tall and has 38 points of articulation. Sue comes from around the point when Toy Biz was focusing on articulation above all else, and it kind of shows. Sure, she’s got a lot of movement, but she looks more like a drawing mannequin than an actual person. The joints are really obvious and she’s painfully skinny, to a degree that no living person should be. The waist is the absolute worst, though; it’s actually a bit smaller than her thigh in diameter, which is beyond off. These are proportions that would look strange even on a comicbook character, but on a figure that’s supposed to be based on a real person, they’re downright laughable. At the very least, the figure’s head is a pretty spot-on likeness of Jessica Alba, right down to that slightly condescending sneer she was sporting for about 99% of her screen time in the movies. The hair is a separate piece and whole it’s a little on the thick side, it’s not atrocious, and there’s at least some nice detailing. Sue’s paintwork is probably the figure’s strongest point. Everything’s pretty clean overall, and there’s even some nice accent work on the uniform of the blue, which helps keep it from getting too monotonous. Her face is also surprisingly well-done, especially at this scale. Invisible Woman included a disc-firing base, which I think was supposed to represent here powers somewhat, but it just ends up being weird.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Sue was one of the more difficult to find figures in the line at the time of release, so I didn’t have this figure when she was new. She ended up being one of the 15 figures I picked up at this past Balticon. The figure’s definitely wonky, especially in terms of proportions, and Alba’s Sue is far from one of my favorite characters, so I can’t say this is one of my favorite figures. But hey, she was $2. I can’t really complain.

#0944: Bart’s Treehouse

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

BART’s TREEHOUSE (W/ MILITARY BART)

WORLD OF SPRINGFIELD (PLAYMATES)

BartsTreehouse1

With a whopping 27 years on the air, The Simpsons is the longest running scripted TV show in American history. During those 27 years, The Simpsons has found its way into just about every corner of merchandising, which of course includes my very favorite type of merchandise: action figures. Simpsons figures have been produced by the likes of Mattel, McFarlane, and even NECA, but the most successful, most popular line of Simpsons toys by far was Playmates’ World of Springfield line. Running from early 2000 through to 2004, the line managed to produce just about every named character from the show, alongside prominent variations of the main family, leading to over 200 unique figures produced. They didn’t stop with figures, though. One of the line’s main hooks was the recreation of some of Springfield’s more memorable locales as playsets. Each playset included a unique figure and had the ability to interact with most figures from the line. Today, I’ll be looking at Bart’s Treehouse and its included figure, Military Bart.

THE PLAYSET ITSELF

BartsTreehouse2Bart’s Treehouse was released alongside Series 12 of the World of Springfield line, which hit retail in the spring of 2003. The first 10 series each got two playsets, but Series 12 was when the line was nearing its end, so Playtmates had cut back to one playset per series. The Treehouse is 6 ¼ inches wide, 6 ¾ inches tall, and a little over 4 ½ inches deep. It’s not really articulated in any really conventional way, but there is a hinge on the roof, allowing it to swing up for easier access to the interior.  The construction of the treehouse is fairly basic, but that seems about right. From the screenshots I’ve found online, it doesn’t look like a horrible approximation of the in-show setting. The basic detail work is actually pretty nice. The boards are all fully detailed, with nails and everything, and there are even a few spots for posters on the walls. The actual tree bit is decent, if maybe not as exciting as the rest of the house. The bark in particular is a little on the soft side. It’s also worth noting that the entire back of the set isn’t meant to be seen, so the leaves on the tree just abruptly stop. There isn’t a whole lot in the way of paint on this set. The tree bark is all painted a rather drab greyish-brown, which is appropriate I guess. The two maps and the Krusty the Clown poster are all done via decals. They’re pretty well applied and don’t look to be going anywhere, so that’s BartsTreehouse4good. The rest of the pieces are pretty much just molded in the appropriate colors. It was a tiny bit of a letdown to find out that the bulb in the light fixture was just left green, but that’s pretty minor. In addition to the Bart figure (who I’ll get to in a second), the Treehouse includes a table (with assorted supplies on it), a pile of water balloons, and a pair of binoculars. The set also included the usual interactive feature of all the playsets in the line. There are three ports where compatible figures can be plugged into the set. By each port, there’s a button, which will play a random clip of dialogue associated with the figure on said port. The set is compatible with 51 figures in addition to the included Bart (though a good number of those are just variants of the main family), and there are over 25 unique phrases included. The sound quality’s nothing to write home about, but it’s a pretty novel little feature nonetheless.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

BartsTreehouse3Included with this set is a variant of Bart Simpson, who was one of the more recurring characters in the line. This particular Bart is based on his appearance in the episode “Bart the General,” which had the Treehouse in it, so it’s a good choice. The figure is 3 ¾ inches tall and he has 4 points of articulation (the standard for the line). Overall, he’s a fairly standard Bart, with the usual orange t-shirt and blue shirt (which Bart will no doubt demand you eat). He’s in a fairly generic pose, aside from his arms, which he’s got held up and bent at the elbows, as if he’s doing the chicken dance or something. The head is the main distinctive part here: Bart’s eyes are in a more serious half-lidded position, and he’s got a bit of wheat sticking out of his mouth. He’s supposed to be serious and military, but he ends up looking a bit dopey. To aid with his military look, Bart includes a helmet, sunglasses, and a baton, all of which are pretty well sculpted and sit nicely on the figure. The glasses even cover up the weird eyes and make him less silly looking, which is good. Bart’s paintwork is overall pretty clean, with nice, bright colors, and no really noticeable slop. For the talking feature, Bart gets six different lines with this set: “I promise you victory! I promise you good times!”, “I ain’t gonna get out of the fourth grade alive”, “We are happy, we are merry! We gotta rhyming dictionary!”, “I’m gonna have to teach you a lesson.”, “There’s this boy at school who keeps beating me up.”, and “I can’t squeal. It would violate the code of the schoolyard!”

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

World of Springfield was all over the place when I was growing up, but the only figure I ever got was a Series 1 Bart. The playsets always fascinated me, but I just never got one, since I was a bit young for the show at the time. I was at a thrift store with my brother two weeks ago, and happened upon this particular set for less than half its original retail price. The box was super beat up, but everything was there, so I figured “what the heck?” This is actually a pretty fun set, and I’m glad to have found it. Of course, now I need to resist the urge to go back and pick up the compatible figures!

BartsTreehouse5

#0934: Black Costume Spider-Man

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

SPIDER-MAN – BLACK COSTUME

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (TOY BIZ)

BlackCostumeSpidey1

EDIT: Sorry for the late post everyone!  For some reason, this post had its date set to February 13 instead of May 13. But it’s here now!

As much as it may seem that Hasbro is releasing Marvel’s most prominent characters in every possible format they can think of, the ‘Bro has nothing on their predecessor’s at Toy Biz. Over the course of their 15-year run with the license, Toy Biz offered the Marvel heroes in 12 distinct scales (to say nothing of having a wide variety of styles within those scales). Towards the end of their run making Marvel toys, they spun a few of their more successful 6-inch lines into 12-inch lines. This included their Amazing Spider-Man line. While the larger line was somewhat limited in scope (there were only 6 figures, and 3 of them were Spider-Man), it did manage to produce a few pretty cool figures, such as today’s focus, the Black Costume Spider-Man.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

BlackCostumeSpidey2Black Costume Spider-Man was released as part of the 12-inch Amazing Spider-Man line in 2006. The line didn’t really have any proper series structure; figures were just sort of added as they went. This particular figure was one of the very last figures added to the line, alongside the House of M version of Spider-Man. The figure stands just over 12 inches tall and has 33 points of articulation (a fact his package proudly boasted. Toy Biz was big on that at the time). Marvel Legends Icons, the 12-inch counterpart to Marvel Legends, was constructed exactly like the smaller figures, just at a larger scale, which gave the figures a certain degree of heft. Amazing Spider-Man, on the other hand, made use of rotocast parts (i.e. hollow) to keep the cost of the figures lower. This results in the figure being surprisingly lightweight, and a bit less sturdy than other figures. However, this figure is hardly fragile, and it’s worth noting that only about half of this figure is actually rotocast. The sculpt of this figure was shared with the House of M figure as well. It was a noticeable improvement over the prior Spider-Man from the line in terms of movement and detailing. The whole thing has this kinda cool orange peel-style texturing to it, which is a nice change from all the totally smooth Spideys out there. The proportions are a bit out there, but it’s Spider-Man, so there’s some room for exaggeration, and he’s certainly no more out of whack than any other Toy Biz Spider-Man. His paint work is fairly basic. They’ve foregone any sort of accenting for the black, which is always a good choice in my book. The white’s a bit on the fuzzy side, presumably due to the texturing of the sculpt. It’s not terrible, but it definitely could be better.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember seeing just about every figure in this line when they were originally released. However, I never did get around to picking any of them up. This figure ended up being a rather random find: two weeks ago, I was out and about with my family and we stopped at a Goodwill. There was a bag of assorted action figures for $10, and I could make out this guy, so I bought it. Turns out he’s worth quite a bit more. Lucky me! The figure’s actually pretty cool, and it’s a shame he was one of the last in the line.

#0917: Corporal Hicks

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

CORPORAL HICKS

MOVIE MANIACS (MCFARLANE)

HicksMM1

Do you guys know what day it is? It’s Alien Day! Yes, in celebration of the 30th Anniversary of Aliens, today, April 26th (it’s 4-26, as in LV-426. Clever girl…) is officially Alien Day. There’s some cool contests and such, plus a whole ton of awesome Alien-themed merchandise, and even some showings of the first two films on the big screen. Obviously, I’d be remiss if I didn’t do something to celebrate. I’ve actually reviewed the vast majority of my Aliens collection, but have no fear; I’ve still got a few aces up my sleeve. Today, I’ll be looking back at one of the earliest examples of a figure based on Aliens’ human characters, with McFarlane Toys’ figure of Corporal Hicks. Buckle up guys; this might be a slightly bumpy ride.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

HicksMM2Hicks was released in Series 7 of McFarlane’s Movie Maniacs line. By this point, they had more or less given up on keeping true to the “Maniacs” half of the title, but that was a trend that started in Series 4, so no one was super shocked. Corporal Hicks was available two different ways: there was a basic release with a pulse rifle and un-helmeted head, and there was also a McFarlane Collector’s Club version that included a helmeted head, a motion tracker, a face hugger and egg, and a shotgun. My figure is the regular release, so I don’t get all the fun extras. He stands about 7 inches tall and has 9 points of articulation. Those 9 points don’t really amount to much of anything, though, since the figure is sculpted in this odd sort of leaning back/lunging forward pose (also, thanks to the fragility of McFarlane figures, my Hicks’ right shoulder broke sometime between me putting him in storage and taking him out to write this review). The best you can really do is turn his head and slightly change the pose of the arms. But, hey, the lack of movement’s okay, because the sculpt is really great, right? Well, not exactly. The sculpt definitely has its highlights, to be sure; the general level of detail on his uniform is quite good. There are a few inaccuracies, such as the ridges at the center of his chest armor, where it should be smooth, the fitting of the back of his armor to his shoulder blades, and the lack of one of his two belt pouches, but those are small. The main issue? The body that the uniform is resting on. Looking past the weird pose, the arms and legs are huge, way too huge for the torso. The arms in particular are super massive, and almost look misshapen. On top of that the head is a bit too small. Also, while I guess the face sort of looks like Hicks, it’s far from spot on (in fact, I don’t believe they ever officially got Biehn’s likeness rights; they weren’t very good about doing that sort of thing). He’s wearing his headset from later in the film, which makes him different from the NECA figure, but it also creates a slight continuity error, since he’s still got his shoulder lamp, which he’s ditched by the time he gets the headset. If there’s one area that’s pretty solid on this figure, it’s the paint (well, provided you aren’t comparing him to the NECA version). There’s the glaring issue of him being way too pale. He also lacks Hicks’ name at the top of his chest armor. The armored pieces are nice overall, but the camo is slightly off, and lacks the white elements. The camo on his uniform is pretty well-executed, though, and all of the small detail work is nice and tight, if a bit more basic than the NECA figure. Hicks includes his M41A Pulse Rifle (not quite as good as the NECA version, but not bad for the time), a locator, a knife, and a display stand that looks like the flooring of one of the Hadley’s Hope facilities. Later shipments of the figure also included the motion tracker included with the Collector’s Club version, but mine isn’t one of them.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’d actually seen Aliens when this figure was released, and I saw it at retail a few times, but for whatever reason, I didn’t pick it up (I think I was holding out for a Ripley to go with him). A few years later, I ended up getting him as a Christmas gift from my parents. This isn’t a figure that’s aged particularly well, especially in light of the far superior NECA version. Even when he was new, he felt sort of unfinished, due to neither the regular or exclusive versions offering a complete set of accessories. That said, taking him back out to review has reminded me of a lot of the more endearing qualities of the figure. There was a time when he was the best Hicks figure I owned, and I do still have some very fond memories of that.

HicksMM3

#0911: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Minimates

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

LI MU BAI, YU SHU LIEN, JEN YU, & LO

CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON MINIMATES

CTHD1

And now for something completely different…

In the year 2000 (and early 2001), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon became a rather surprising success. Despite being entirely in Mandarin, the film was a smash hit in the United States. It was so much of a success that its director Ang Lee even nabbed a job directing 2003’s Hulk (the less said about that, the better). The measure of true success, in my book at least, is how many action figures you got. Art Asylum picked up the license. They released a set of four 7-inch figures, as well as releasing a few of the characters in this little line they were starting, call Minimates. Despite the film’s success, the figures just did alright, not great, and not enough to get more than the same four characters released in two styles. Today, I’ll be taking a look at the four Minimates based on the movie.

Also, I feel I should note at this time that I’ve never actually seen Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Yeah, yeah, bad Ethan. Let’s just see how this goes.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

These four make up the first (and only) series of Art Asylum’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Minimates. They were released in September of 2002, right around the same time as the Bruce Lee Minimates and Rock Minimates, making them some of the very first Minimates.

CTHD6All four ‘mates are built on the original, 3-inch body. Unlike the 2 ½-inch body, which is a pretty straight up-sizing of the 2-inch body, the 3-inch body is actually a little different: the peg hole in the head is not centered, but rather towards the back; the torso is made up of three pieces, fixed together, rather than being a single molded piece; the elbow and knee joint are in the center, and have a separate pin going through them; finally, the hands are side specific and look more like actual hands. Functionally, it works about the same as the smaller bodies, with the same basic 14 points of articulation. It’s just a tweaked structure.

LI MU BAI

CTHD2Okay, so Li Mu Bai is Chow Yun-fat’s character from the movie. I know that much. Yay me! Mu Bai gets 6 add-on pieces for his hair, shirt, sleeves, and footwear. The older ‘mates are a whole different level of detailing than what we see today; stylization was pretty high, and they made do with as few details as possible. This is most evident in his hair, which is fairly flat at texture-less (and ends abruptly at the top of his head), though the braid is pretty well detailed. The rest of the pieces are actually surprisingly detailed; they’re still fairly simple, but there’s a fair bit of detail on the shirt and feet, and the sleeves are nowhere near as static as some of the later, smaller-scale pieces. Mu Bai is mostly molded in the appropriate colors, but he has a bit of detailing on his shirt and feet, as well as the expected detail lines for his face. The face is made up of just of black line work (no additional colors for his eyes or teeth), and his face is very, very stylized and geometric. There’s definitely not a real likeness in that face. Mu Bai includes his sword, the Green Destiny, as well as a weird puzzle piece thing that was included with all the early Minimates.

YU SHU LIEN

CTHD3Yu Shu Lien was played by Michelle Yeoh, who, amongst other things, was a Bond girl during Pierce Brosnan’s tenure in the role, as well as being in the criminally under-rated Sunshine. She was also a pretty big deal in Hong Kong action movies during the 1990s, which one assumes is what got her a role in Crouching Tiger. Her figure has 7 add-ons: hair, shirt, skirt, sleeves, and leg wraps. Where Mu Bai’s hair was rather square and stilted, Shu Lien’s has a nice flow to it, and looks pretty organic, if still stylized. The rest of the parts are all pretty good too. The chest cap presents a fairly unique feature amongst Minimates: a sculpted bosom. Well, sculpted suggestion of bosom, anyway, similar to what Palisades did on their Palz figures. The actual chest cap seems a little bit bulky, but nowhere near as bad as some of the smaller ‘mates. Shu Lien’s paint is a little more complex than Mu Bai’s. The base colors are okay, but a little fuzzy in some spots. Her face is still pretty simple, but she at least gets one extra color for her lips. Yu Shu Lien includes a sword and the weird puzzle piece.

JEN YU

CTHD4Jen Yu was played by the relative newcomer Zhang Ziyi. The only thing I know her from is 2007’s TMNT, where she played Karai (who also has a Minimate, but it’s not from the movie). Jen Yu has 7 add-ons: hair/mask, robe, skirt, wrist bands, and boots. They’re all pretty decent pieces, though they don’t seem to sit as well as the parts from the other two. That doesn’t mean she looks bad, though. It appears to be a pretty good recreation of the look from the film, and she’s a pretty neat, basic ninja. The paint is fairly basic. Mostly she’s molded in black, with a bit of red and gold detailing here and there. Under the mask, she’s got a fully detailed face, on par with the rest of the set. Jen Yu included a sword and sheath (as well as the puzzle piece), but mine doesn’t have them.

LO

CTHD5Last up is Lo, the dude I know the least about. He was played by Chang Chen, whom I’ve never actually seen in anything. Apparently Lo’s a desert bandit, which sounds pretty cool, and he’s got one of the cooler looks. Lo has 7 add-on pieces: hair, jacket, sleeves (my figure lacks one of them), skirt, and boots. His sleeves are noticeably a bit more geometric than the others, but the rest of his parts still have a pretty decent flow to them. As a whole, the pieces look pretty good together, if slightly dated. Lo has one of the more detailed paint jobs seen here. It’s nice and clean, and all of the colors work together pretty well. His face is once again pretty basic, but at least he gets a mustache to change things up a bit. Lo had the most accessories of the set, with a sword, an extra wristband (w/ mounted eagle, though, once again, my figure lacks this), a cape, and the previously mentioned puzzle piece. Sadly, my figure lacks his extra pieces.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since I’ve not seen the movie, it’s not a huge surprise that I didn’t get these four new. I will admit to at least contemplating getting them a few times over the years, due to the whole “some of the earliest Minimates” thing. Of course, they aren’t the easiest things to come across anymore. So, when I found them back in January at a flea market (on the same trip that netted me Gimli, the Orc Scout, Big Guy, and Perseus), a snapped them up pretty quickly. They were pretty filthy when I got them, so I had to spend a good two hours cleaning them up. Despite not having seen the movie, I find myself really enjoying these four. They’re definitely a different style of ‘mate, but it’s really fun to own figures that are an important step in the evolution of Minimates.

#0907: Captain Yesterday

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

CAPTAIN YESTERDAY

FUTURAMA (TOYNAMI)

CaptainYesterday1

Futurama is a show that I tend to forget how much I enjoy until I’m actually watching it. While it’s framed as a dumb comedy, it’s actually pretty intelligent. It’s never been anywhere near as successful as its sister show, The Simpsons, but it’s done pretty decently for itself (seriously, the show’s been canceled how many times now?). Back when it first aired, Moore Action Collectibles picked up the license, hoping to replicate some of the success of Playmates’ World of Springfield line. Sadly, that didn’t work out for them. They only produced a single series of three figures, and that was all. Several years later, following Comedy Central ordering new episodes of the show, Toynami dusted of MAC’s old sculpts, and added a few of their own to launch a new line of figures. The line was actually fairly successful, with 9 series of figures. This allowed for Toynami to offer a few of the main characters with some variant looks, including today’s figure, Captain Yesterday, aka Phillip J Fry.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

CaptainYesterday2Captain Yesterday was released in Series 4 of Toynami’s Futurama line. Series 4 was the first series to include pieces of the line’s second Build-A-Figure, Robot Santa. Captain Yesterday is based on Fry’s appearance in the fourth season episode “Less Than Hero,” where he and Leela gain super powers and decide to fight crime as the New Justice Team. The figure is about 6 inches tall and has 4 points of articulation. While the MAC figures, and by extension some of Toynami’s figures, had a fair bit of articulation, the later figures only had the most basic movement, and were patterned after World of Springfield in that respect. Captain Yesterday was an all-new sculpt. He’s rather pre-posed, but he’s at least based on Captain Yesterday’s “role call” pose. If he could only have one pose, this is a pretty good one. The sculpt does an admirable job of translating Fry into three CaptainYesterday3dimensions. It’s not a perfect translation, but it’s close enough that you’ll really only notice the issues when doing a direct comparison. The paint on this figure is pretty well done for the most part. There are some spots with some minor bleed over, but the basic application is very clean, and he looks really sharp. Captain Yesterday includes two accessories: a tube of Dr. Flimflam’s Miracle Cream (which is what gave Fry his powers), and the head of Robot Santa.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was late to the party on this guy. I remember these figures being released, and I had even became a fan of the show by the time most of them hit stores, but for one reason or another, I never got any of these figures new. And, if I’m honest, I never had much motivation to track them down on the secondary market later. So, why do I have this guy? Well, I was in a Moviestop a few weeks ago, and discovered that Moviestop has apparently been bought out by Hastings, a collectibles store from the Midwest. This means they have a lot of action figures. Like, a LOT. Anyway, they had a bunch of Futurama figures, all priced below their original retail value. Since I always liked “Less Than Hero,” I figured Captain Yesterday was worth the purchase. This isn’t a revolutionary figure, or even a particularly stand out one, but he’s not bad, and certainly worth what I paid for him. Now, I just need to fight the urge to complete the New Justice Team…

#0905: Luke Skywalker

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

LUKE SKYWALKER – X-WING PILOT

POWER OF THE JEDI

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The Phantom Menace was a big deal in a whole lot of ways, mostly due to being the first Star Wars film in almost two decades. One of the things it did was bring the main Star Wars toyline of the time to pretty much a screeching halt, in favor of product centered around the new film. To be fair, it wasn’t unlike what The Force Awakens did last year, with one major caveat: Phantom Menace, while commercially successful, was far from critically successful, and people were far less interested in product based solely on the new film after seeing it. Shortly after the movie, Hasbro did a quick retool of the line, re-branding it Power of the Jedi, and offering figures from throughout the Star Wars saga. Going back to the older films let Hasbro bring out new versions of the Original Trilogy’s main heroes, which included Luke Skywalker.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

LukePOTJ2Luke was released in 2001 as part of the second basic assortment of Power of the Jedi figures. The figure is 3 ¾ inches tall and has 6 points of articulation. He depicts Luke in his X-Wing Fighter gear, presumably from A New Hope. This was the third figure to depict Luke in his pilot gear, but it’s notable for being the first ever to give him a removable helmet (though he’s not the first X-Wing pilot to get a removable helmet. That was Wedge Antilles, just two years prior). The sculpt on this figure is decent enough.  It does a much better job of capturing Hamill’s size and proportions than earlier Lukes did, though he takes the smallness a bit too far; Luke looks just a tad under fed. The likeness on the head is just so-so, but certainly a good attempt. The body has a slight rigidity to it that looks a little unnatural, but the level of detail is pretty fantastic, especially at this scale. The hose on his chest piece was a separate piece, which had a tendency to fall out (hence my figure not having his anymore). Luke’s paintwork is decent enough (though my figure’s a little worse for wear in that respect). It’s fairly basic, but all the important details are there, and they manage to be pretty decently applied (though the white of his teeth makes him look almost buck-toothed). Luke’s lone accessory was his removable helmet, sadly lost some time ago by child-Ethan.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I believe I got this figure from Cosmic Comix, which is weird, because he was new at the time and they never really carried new Star Wars figures. I bought him because he had the removable helmet, which rather fascinated me at the time. He was pretty good at the time, but this figure hasn’t aged particularly well. There’s nothing that stands out as being super off, but he just feels somehow lacking.

#0898: Roger

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

ROGER

HELLBOY (MEZCO)

Roger1

The artificial man is a recurring story element in lots of different popular culture. Typically, it’s the likes of Frankenstein’s monster, or even characters like Ash and Bishop from the Alien franchise, or perhaps just a more generic robot. They’re created through scientific means. However, there are a few examples, such as the Golem or the Homunculi, which are created through supernatural means. Today’s focus, Roger, is officially the latter, but functionally works as the former. Just go with it. Without further ado, here’s Roger!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Roger was released in Series 2 of Mezco’s comic-based Hellboy line. The figure stands just shy of 8 inches tall (Roger’s a big guy) and he has 23 points of articulation. Roger has a sculpt courtesy of Inu Art, and he’s based on Mike Mignola’s artwork from the main series. A lot of Roger’s appearances were actually in BPRD, which was drawn by Guy Davis, not Mignola. However, it makes sense to have all of the figures in this set be in the same basic style (plus Davis’ style isn’t too far removed from Mignola’s to begin with). Roger’s sculpt is totally unique to him. His proportions are a pretty spot-on rendering of what’s seen on the page, and the resemblance to Roger is definitely there.  Roger’s far less clothed than the other two figures I’ve looked at from this line, but that doesn’t mean he lacks Roger2the attention to detail. Like Lobster Johnson, he has that chiseled look, with a ton of cool texturing, which really makes this figure stand out from others. The hatch at the center of his torso is actually articulated to allow it to open (though the interior of his torso is merely simulated, not actually shown). The loop on Roger’s… modesty… plank (?) is a separate, metal piece, which is a nice touch. Roger’s paint consists almost entirely of variations of browns, but there’s enough there to keep him from being too boring. The paint is all nice and clean, and there’s some pretty cool shading throughout the figure. Roger includes a BPRD flak jacket, if you prefer him a bit more clothed, as well as a book with a skull on the front of it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

At the time of this figure’s release, my only real exposure to the franchise was the first movie and a handful of comics I’d picked up, none of which featured Roger. Not knowing the character, I didn’t pick him up. Then I actually read a number of his appearances, and quite enjoyed the character, but finding the figure at that point was…less than practical. At this year’s MAGFest, one of the vendors had a Lobster Johnson figure, which I very happily snapped up. The next day, they had added Roger to the table, and I happily snapped him up too. I don’t find him to be quite as fun a figure as Lobster J, but he’s still pretty solid, and I’m happy I got him.

#0880: Lobster Johnson

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

LOBSTER JOHNSON

HELLBOY (MEZCO)

LobsterJ1

After being introduced to the Hellboy franchise by the 2004 movie, I was very invested in finding out just what this series had to offer. I was thrilled to find that there was a ton of stuff in the comics that the movies didn’t even begin to touch on. One of my favorite non-movie characters (and apparently one of Mike Mignola’s favorite creations) was pseudo pulp hero Lobster Johnson. After the modest success of their first movie-based line of figures, toymakers Mezco put together a tragically short-lived line of comic based figures, granting good ol’ claw-hand a shot at a figure, which I’ll be reviewing today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

LobsterJ2Lobster Johnson was released in the first series of comic-based Hellboy figures. It’s actually a little surprising that Johnson got a spot so early in the line, but he was the one figure in the line-up specifically requested by Mignola (the same thing happened with the small selection of Heroclix the series got). Johnson was released in two different variations: a regular one, and a translucent blue “Ghost of Lobster Johnson” one. The Ghost version was a summer convention exclusive, with the normal colored version being the regular, mass market release. Mine’s the regular one. The figure is 7 ¾ inches tall and has 20 points of articulation. He has a sculpt by INU Studios, based right on Mignola’s art from the series. This sculpt is an incredibly masterful translation of Mignola’s style into three dimensions; it gets the proportions down great (though, boy does this guy have some skinny wrists), and just overall does a really nice job of capturing Lobster’s look. Also, unlike a lot of comic-based figures, Lobster doesn’t skimp on the texturing; he almost look likes he’s been chiseled out of stone, which is definitely befitting of a Mignola design. The paintwork does a nice job of accenting the sculpt; the uniform gets a nice assortment of dry-brushed details and the like, to make it look good and worn-in. It would have been nice if the claw logo on his torso were a bit brighter, just to stand out a bit more, but it’s not bad. The face is really impressive, making use of several different flesh tones to give him a distinct, almost picturesque quality. Lobster is packed with a pistol (which can be held, or stowed in his holster) and the evil brain from Lobster’s debut story, “Killer in My Skull.”

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Despite loving the movie and having a few of Mezco’s figures from that line, I never got any of the Series 1 comic figures (and only a single Series 2 figures). It was a choice I came to regret much later, after the prices had all sky-rocketed. At this year’s MAGFest, I saw this guy on a vendor’s table, and was very happy to find out the guy was asking well below the figure’s going rate. I’m really happy that I got Lobster; of all the comic figures I missed out on, he was probably the one I most wanted. He’s an incredible figure, and it’s a shame Mezco didn’t get to do way more of these guys.

#0822: Donatello

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

DONATELLO

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

Donatello2002a

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a trend that I seem to always juuuust miss, since the first cartoon and toyline were big right before I got into collecting, and the second cartoon was just after I was watching Saturday morning cartoons on a regular basis. The 2002 had quite a few fans, which included my younger brother. Since we were into a lot of the same stuff, I actually had a small handful of figures from that particular toyline. Today, I’ll be looking at my personal favorite member of the Turtles, Donatello.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Donatello2002bDonatello was part of the first series of the 2002 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line from Playmates. He’s the first version of the character released in this particular iteration, so he’s just a fairly standard version, before the onset of the wacky variants. The figure stands 5 ¾ inches tall and has 13 points of articulation. The articulation isn’t terrible, but he can’t really do much but stand in the one pose. Later figures added a bit more, but these early figures weren’t so lucky. The sculpt of this figure is pretty good. It’s specific to Donatello, but it really could be any of the four depending on the paint. It captures the look of the characters on the show fairly well. He’s definitely a bit more detailed and “toyetic” than a straight translation would be, but it’s clear which of the incarnations of the show this is based on. There’s some nice texture work on the shell and the sides of his torso, but it doesn’t really extend to the rest of the figure, which is a bit odd. The paintwork on Donatello is pretty nicely handled; the basic colors match up with Donatello’s from the show, and he’s got a decent amount of accent work. The figure included his signature Bo staff, a sword, axe, and two throwing blades. Mine has none of these, however.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So, I actually didn’t get this guy when he was new. I ended up finding him at the same place where I purchased the recently reviewed Secret Wars Wolverine. I don’t have any undying need to own the figures from this line, but he was $1.99, so I figured he was worth it. The 2002 figures actually weren’t that bad, and they hold up pretty well over a decade after release, which can’t really be said of most figures from 2002.