Tag Archives: 00s

#0515: Hellboy

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

HELLBOY

HELLBOY: ANIMATED

HellboyAnimated1

Back in the days before every comic book property under the sun was getting a movie or TV deal, it was a pretty huge accomplishment for anything that wasn’t Batman or Spider-Man to make it to the big screen. Such was the case with Hellboy, which surprised everyone by not only making it to the big screen, but also managing to do so without fundamentally changing everything about the series. That said, getting one movie made is one thing. Getting a sequel? Even less likely. In the years that followed the first Hellboy film, the film’s director, writers, and principle cast members decided to continue their fun through a series of direct-to-DVD animated movies. They produced two, Hellboy: Sword of Storms and Hellboy: Blood and Iron, before eventually returning with the live action Hellboy 2. While Mezco Toyz held the licenses for the comic and film incarnations of Hellboy, the animated license was picked up by Gentle Giant, at the time known for their statue and bust work (now they’re the ones responsible for the sculpts in Hasbro’s Star Wars: The Black Series and Marvel Legends Infinite Series). They produced HB and his teammate Abe Sapien. Today, I’ll be taking a look at Big Red himself.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

HellboyAnimated2Hellboy was released in two different ways, though the figure is the same both places. He was available as a single figure, or packed in a set with the two movies. My figure comes from the set with the movies. The figure is about 6 ½ inches tall, with 30 points of articulation. The figure is based on the standard Hellboy design used in both animated films. He’s done here in his sans-coat look. One has to wonder if there might have been plans to do a coated version later down the line. The figure’s sculpt was original to him, and it’s really quite well done. In the films, HB’s proportions are rather exaggerated. The figure does a nice job of translating them, resulting in an (overall) sturdy figure, to a level that’s pleasantly surprising. From his head to his hooves, HB’s sculpt is very carefully handled, resulting in something that not only replicates the cartoon look, but also looks pretty great in three dimensions. Something that sets this figure apart from the vast majority of animation-based figures is texture. Many animation figures attempt to replicate the totally smooth look of the animated character, which can be rather problematic if not done right, and can also end up a little boring. HB, on the other hand, is pretty much coated in unique textures. The best work is definitely on the Right Hand of Doom, which is appropriately rocky looking, but he also has a rather neat orange peel-style texture on his skin, which is strangely appropriate for the character. The texture really catches the light just right and ends up making the figure quite interesting to look at. My only issue with the sculpt is that the shins are so thin that one of them snapped on my figure. However, this is less the sculpt’s fault and more an inevitability of the character design. Still, it’s something that warrants caution. The paint on this figure could have been rather flat, but it’s actually not, which is pretty cool to see. The base paint work is pretty much par for the course. There are a few spots of bleed over and missed lines, but nothing too bad. The strength of the paint really lies in the accent work, which does a lot to bring out the best of the sculpted work. The musculature is all outlined by some nicely handled dark red airbrushing, the RHoD has a black wash to bring out the cracks in the rocky surface, and the belt/pouches/holster have all been given a sufficiently worn looking paint job. All of this is above what is generally expected for an animation figure, which just makes it that much better. Hellboy included his signature gun, The Samaritan, an extra left hand to properly hold it, the Sword of Storms, and a display stand with the Hellboy Animated logo on it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I kinda missed these figures when they were first released, mostly due them being in scale with pretty much nothing I owned. I ended up finding a slightly damaged HB along with the DVDs at this record store called Music for a Song. They were selling it for less than the price of one of the DVDs by itself, so I figured it was probably worth it. I’m glad I found it and decided to go for it, because it’s probably the best Hellboy figure ever made. The articulation’s great, the sculpt is great, the paint’s great. The only thing (at the time) that wasn’t great was that he really didn’t fit with anything else I owned. And then DC Collectibles started doing Bruce Timm-styled figures in the 6 inch scale. Batman/Hellboy team-up FTW!

Hellboy&BatmanAnimated

#0497: Green Goblin

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GREEN GOBLIN

MARVEL LEGENDS

Ah, yes, ToyBiz’s Marvel Legends. What a bunch of mixed feelings that was. When they were new, I loved the figures, but they were impossible to get. Now, they’re a lot easier to get a hold of, and… well, it seems there was quite a nostalgia filter.

One of the things about when ToyBiz was handling the line is that they consistently had a Spider-Man line running alongside it. This generally meant that any Spider-characters would appear in that line, not in Marvel Legends. However, there were three instances of the unofficial rule being broken. One such case was today’s figure, the Green Goblin!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Green Goblin was released in the 13th Series of ToyBiz’s Marvel Legends. The series was officially titled the “Onslaught Series” after its Build-A-Figure, and unofficially titled “Bring On the Bad Guys” due to the fact that it was a series of nothing but villains. It was actually a pretty novel idea, but seems like the sort of thing that would never happen now. Goblin is roughly 6 inches tall and he has 36 points of articulation. All that articulation, and he still couldn’t stand on his glider the right way. It’s mostly the fault of the hip joints, which were common to this era of ML figures and were notorious for their inability to forward and back and side to side at the same time. You had to pick one or the other. This figure does actually represent one of the few times that the toe articulation proved useful, so that’s a plus, though the finger articulation was as pointless as ever. The figure’s sculpt may or may not have been new to him. This figure was released around the same time as a Hobgoblin from the Spider-Man line, and they shared all but the head, pelvis, and shins. I don’t know which one of them used the pieces first, or if they were in fact designed to share the pieces from the beginning. Regardless, the figure sports one of the best Green Goblin sculpts, pretty much ever. The build is actually pretty great for the Goblin, and the scales on his arms and legs look fantastic. The highlight of the figure is easily the head, which translated Goblin’s grinning visage perfectly to three dimensions. This is easily one of ToyBiz’s best sculpted efforts from this time-period. While the figure is fantastically sculpted, the paint leaves a little bit to be desired. The biggest thing is that it’s just way too dark. Goblin’s a character who really needs to be bright and garish, so the subdued green and not quite purple doesn’t really work. The washes are also a little heavy and uneven, and they just make the figure even darker. From a purely technical standpoint, the paint is clean; cleaner than a lot of other ToyBiz Legends, so kudos to them on that. The figure included his trusty satchel, a display stand in the form of his signature glider, and a piece of Onslaught. The glider ends up with the most issues. For one thing, it seems a little droopy on the sides. The biggest issue, though, is the completely opaque piece holding the glider up. They didn’t even try to make it a little inconspicuous, which just feels lazy.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Goblin actually comes from the point in the line where the figures became a little easier to get a hold of. He was picked up from my local comicbook store, who had started getting the figures in for a slightly higher price. I can’t remember exactly what led me to get Goblin, as I’m not the character’s biggest fan or anything. I will say he’s one of the nicer figures the line had to offer, and, aside from the hip joint issue, he actually still looks pretty good with modern Legends.

#0476: Madman

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MADMAN

LEGENDARY COMIC BOOK HEROES

The story of Toybiz is an interesting one. They first made their mark on the industry with their DC Superheroes line, which is generally remembered for a) being a rip-off of Kenner’s DC Super Powers and b) not being very good. When the DC license went back to Kenner, Toybiz picked up the license for Marvel, which ended up becoming their defining property. In 1996, Marvel filed for bankruptcy, and the now successful Toybiz bought them out. Toybiz was re-formed as an in-house toy company for Marvel. Marvel eventually decided it was more cost effective to license the property out. Toybiz was rebranded “Marvel Toys,” but they were left without a primary license. They had a lot of success with their Marvel Legends line, and they still owned all of the molds, so they decided to do a Marvel Legends-style line with characters from the numerous non-Marvel/DC comics that have emerged over the years. One such character was Mike Allred’s Madman, a personal favorite of mine. I’ll be looking at his figure today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Madman was released in the first series of Legendary Comic Book Heroes. He was something of an odd-ball in an assortment mostly focused on 90s anti-heroes, but he was a cool addition nonetheless. The figure is roughly 6 inches tall and he features 36 points of articulation. He’s based on Madman’s look a little ways into the series, after Allred had refined him a bit. It’s his signature look, so it was a good choice. I’d heard over the years that this figure used the Marvel Legends Face Off Daredevil as a starting point, but a quick look at that figure was enough to convince me otherwise. Truth be told, it looks like Madman got an all new sculpt out of the deal. It’s an impressive merging of styles. He’s been made to fit the ML style that LCBH used, but he still features a lot of traits that are undeniably Allred influenced. The end result is some that is cleaner and has aged a bit better than most of this figure’s contemporaries. The figure still has a few of the odd proportions that plagued the Toybiz Legends, namely the protruding shoulders, gangly legs, and flat feet, but overall, he ends up looking pretty good. Madman’s paint is pretty well handled. For the most part, everything is clean, and there isn’t any real issue with slop or bleed over. The blue used to accent the white parts of the costume is a little on the heavy side, but it could certainly be worse. Madman included a piece to Pitt, the B-A-F from this series. Mine was purchased loose, so I never had said pieces.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I missed the boat on LCBH. I remember seeing them in stores, and I even remember looking at Madman a few times. However, I didn’t purchase a single one while they were at retail. A large part of that was that I hadn’t read most of the series represented, Madman included. For Christmas a few years ago, I received the first three volumes of Madman and I absolutely loved them. The following summer, I was visiting Yesterday’s Fun (a favorite store of mine), and I came across this figure loose. All in all, he’s a fantastic figure. He’s not hindered by the same issues that hold back a lot of the Toybiz Marvel Legends. It’s a shame that Marvel Toys was unable to make this line a success and get a few more properties added in.

#0451: General Grievous

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GENERAL GRIEVOUS

STAR WARS: REVEVENGE OF THE SITH

Here it is, Day 14, the last day of the Christmas Reviews. Today, I’ll be sticking with what I started yesterday: Star Wars reviews. Yep, it’s another SW prequel figure. This time around, it’s another of the characters I could actually tolerate, General Grievous (aside from the name. The name always bothered me. Seriously, his name’s just an adjective! What’s next, Savage Oppress? Oh, wait…) Grievous, like so much of the prequel stuff, was a good idea at the start. He’s got a cool design, an interesting enough backstory, and he had those four lightsabers! And then he went out like a punk. Well, at least he was in good company! Let’s look at the figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Grievous was part of the first (and only) series of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith 12-Inch figures. He’s a little over 12 inches in height (though not as over as he should be) and he features 17 points of articulation. I always marvel when companies manage to get less articulation into a character that has obvious joints built into their look. How do they miss the obvious joints? Anyway, the figure’s based on the character’s “live-action” appearance in Revenge of the Sith, which is, as I said in the intro, a pretty decent design. The sculpt of the figure is actually very well done, and it’s certainly above what Hasbro usually offered in this scale. For the most part, the sculpt follows the movies design pretty faithfully; the proportions all seem right, and all the little details and intricacies are present. The figure’s arms have been constructed so as to allow them to split as they do in the movie, and I believe this is the only of Hasbro’s figures of the character to actually do this the right way. Sadly, there isn’t really any mechanism to keep the arms together, so you have to fix them a lot. It’s also worth noting that, due to the lack of proper articulation, the figure is a bit pigeon-toed, which can make him difficult to stand. Given the character’s somewhat unique design, he’s mostly lacking the usual clothing seen on the 12-inch Star Wars figures. He does, however, get a rather nice cloth cape. It’s got two layers of fabric, so as to properly convey the two-toned nature of the cape, and it even has the pattern on the back like it does in the movie. It can easily go on and off of the figure, and it stays in place very well. The figure also has more paintwork than the average 12-incher. While it’s a bit basic in some areas, particularly the silver parts, there is some very nice work, especially on the lighter armor parts and around his eyes. Grievous included four lightsabers: two blue, two green. Unfortunately, due to the softer plastic used for his lower arms, it’s impossible for him to actually hold any of them.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Like Obi Wan, Grievous was a Christmas gift from my pal Phil. What’s interesting about Grievous is that I fully intended to buy this figure when it was originally released. I wasn’t terribly impressed by the movie, but I remember seeing this guy on the shelf and thinking he looked pretty cool. But, then I never got around to it, and he vanished from shelves, so I didn’t think about it. I was quite happy to unwrap this figure after all these years. While the articulation isn’t the best and the plastic could be a bit stronger, there’s no denying that this is a pretty great looking figure.

#0450: Obi Wan Kenobi

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OBI WAN KENOBI

STAR WARS: ATTACK OF THE CLONES

Today is Day 13, the penultimate day of my Christmas Reviews. In these last two reviews, I’ll be moving away from the Aliens and Doctor Who stuff. Instead, I’ll be focusing on that galaxy far, far away.

Generally speaking, I’m not much of a fan of the Star Wars prequels. To paraphrase the wonderful Hayden Christensen, they’re coarse and they get eeeeeverywhere. But, they aren’t completely without their merits. For one thing, the toys didn’t suck too badly (though some were worse than others.) And some of the actors made the best of their roles. One such actor was Ewan McGregor, who portrayed a younger version of Alec Guinness’s Obi Wan Kenobi. He did his best not to let that role suck (even when he was dealing with words like “midiclorians” or “younglings.” Eughghh!) and he ended up being tolerable for most of the three films’ runtime. So, let’s look at an Obi Wan figure.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Obi Wan here was released as part of the first series of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones 12-inch figures. As you can probably gather, that means he’s based on his appearance in Attack of the Clones, which is alright, I suppose. The figure is 12 inches tall and features 22 points of articulation. Obi Wan’s underlying body is the standard Star Wars 12-Inch body of the time. Sadly, while Hasbro’s own GI Joe line had made leaps and bounds worth of improvement to its base body, the SW body was rather behind, even when this was released. It’s needlessly chunky, and the arms are noticeably stubby. And that’s not even touching on those oven mitts he’s got for hands! By Series Two of this line, they’d moved on to a better body, but not here. The figure has a uniquely sculpted head, as well as boots and a belt. The head is a passable resemblance to Ewan McGregor, which is more than can be said about most of the Kenobis offered for Attack of the Clones. The details are a little soft, but not too bad, especially when you’re dealing with rotocasting. The belt and boots are very nicely detailed, with lots of nice textures and such. The figure’s clothing is done with actual cloth, as is the standard for most 12-inch figures. It’s actually surprisingly well-tailored, although that body isn’t doing it any favors. The figure’s paint is minimal; it’s mostly on the head. What’s there is rather cleanly applied, and it seems all the colors are pretty spot on. Obi Wan is armed with a lightsaber that features a removable blade.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Obi Wan was a Christmas gift from my good pal Phil. Phil and I frequently have discussions about our various Star Wars toys, so this was a pretty cool gift. What’s also kinda neat is that this is the only one of the three Series One figures that I never got (The Clone Trooper and Anakin were also given to me as gifts, years ago). Though the figure won’t be winning any awards for ingenuity or anything, but it’s not terrible figure. Opening him up filled me with a nice little twinge of nostalgia, which was really cool!

#0402: Cyborg Superman

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CYBORG SUPERMAN

SUPERMAN (DC DIRECT)

In the early days of DC Direct figures, Hasbro’s contract for the license prevented DCD from making figures of any characters related to Batman and Superman. Following the transfer of the license to Mattel, DCD was allowed to release those characters to their heart’s content. So, they released a line of figures for each of them. The Batman figures skewed more classic, while the Superman figures took a more modern flare. Today, I’ll be looking at that line’s version of Cyborg Superman, another character with “Superman” in his name who is not actually the man of steel.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyborg Superman was released in Series 2 of DC Direct’s Superman line. The figure is about 6 ½ inches tall and he sports 17 points of articulation, which was quite a thing for a DCD figure to have at this point in time. With a character like this, there’s bound to be some parts overlap between this figure and the basic Superman. In reality, he doesn’t share as much as you might expect. His entire left arm, his left thigh, his right foot, and his cape are the same. The rest is unique to this figure, though some parts are tweaked parts from the base Superman. I should point out at this time that my figure’s lower jaw went missing at some point, and I replaced it with a somewhat crudely sculpted replacement. So, the real figure’s jaw was much nicer. However, this figure’s price has since skyrocketed, so I won’t be getting a proper replacement anytime soon. The figure’s sculpt was very, very well done. The proportions are great, and the robotic pieces look fantastic. One of the coolest things about the sculpt is the organic quarter of his face, which is similar to the full sculpt of the main Superman, but just different enough to let you know this isn’t the same guy. It’s really good work. The figure’s paint, while not anything outstanding, is pretty solid. The colors are nice and vibrant, and everything is nice and cleanly applied. Cyborg Superman included a S-emblem display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Cyborg Superman when he was relatively new, from a comicbook store nearby the house we had just moved my aunt into. I had missed out on the regular version of Superman, so I “settled” for this figure. While there are plenty of Supermen that have surpassed the version offered in Series 1, none of the Cyborg Supermen have come close to this one, so I’d say I got the better end of the deal. I just wish I hadn’t lost that jaw…

#0401: Composite Superman

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COMPOSITE SUPERMAN

FIRST APPEARENCE

In the 50s and 60s, DC Comics was really king of the absurd idea. Their stories pretty much run on absurdity. When it comes to absurd characters, Composite Superman is definitely up there. Right off the bat, he’s a dude who’s half Superman ad half Batman. But, what’s even wackier is that his origin has nothing to do with Superman or Batman. He’s actually a janitor from the future, granted the powers of all of the members of the Legion of Super Heroes when lightning struck a display of figurines possessing their abilities. So, umm… yeah. On the plus side, the fact that he’s half and half of two of DC’s top characters means he’s gotten not one, but two action figures!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Composite Superman was released in Series 3 of DC Direct’s First Appearance line. The first two series were purely golden age characters, but the diversified a bit starting with Series 3. This is the first of the two Composite Superman figures. The figure is about 6 ½ inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation. In case the name of the line didn’t clue you in, he’s based on the character’s first appearance, drawn by the legendary Curt Swan. Simply put, the sculpt is outstanding. It’s head to toe a perfect recreation of Swan’s art. The two halves are distinct to each character, but still totally in synch with each other. The only downside to this figure is that DC Direct never separated the sculpt out into proper Swan versions of Superman and Batman (though they did release a completely unique Superman sculpt of a similar style in their Showcase line). The paint is fairly straightforward, but that’s not a bad thing. The colors are all nice, bold and distinct, emphasizing the differences between the halves. The boots and glove have also been done in a very nice glossy sheen, which adds a nice amount of depth to the look. Composite Superman included a mini-replica of his first appearance and a gold display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Composite Superman, like so many of my DC Direct figures, was gotten from a friend who works for Diamond Distributors. I’ve always loved the look of the character, and I was thrilled to find out he was getting an action figure. To top that, it’s not just any action figure, it’s a phenomenal action figure. This really was one of DC Direct’s best efforts.

#0393: Psycho Pirate

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PSYCHO PIRATE

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS

When DC first came onto the super hero scene (then still known as National Comics), they had no idea what kind of success the concept would have. However, the superhero boom of the Golden Age was relatively short lived. It started just as the 40s did, and it was pretty much done a few years into the 50s. But, in the 60s, they wanted to bring it back. To do this, the re-imagined their characters in new ways, resulting in the Silver Age. The old versions were largely forgotten, until a story called “The Flash of Two Worlds” teamed up the Golden and Silver Age Flashes, explaining that they came from two separate universes. Earth 1 held the contemporary characters, while Earth 2 housed the heroes of old. Over the years, DC added more and more universes, resulting in the Multiverse. In the 80s, they decided this was all too confusing, so they created Crisis on Infinite Earths, which did away with all but one universe. So, what does this have to do with Psycho Pirate? Not a whole lot, to be honest. He has a decently sized role in Crisis, and it got him a toy. So there.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Psycho Pirate was released in the first series of DC Direct’s Crisis on Infinite Earths line. The Psycho Pirate depicted here is the second version of the character, Roger Hayden. Hayden was created in the 60s, which means he showed up during the Silver Age, but his first appearance is clearly set on Earth 2, making him a Golden Age villain, sort of kind of. Basically, his deal is that he’s got a mask that lets him control emotions. He’s based on his appearance in Crisis, as depicted by George Perez. The figure is about 6 ¼ inches tall and he features 15 points of articulation. DC Direct was pretty big on everybody getting their own sculpt at the time, so Psycho Pirate’s sculpt is 100% unique to him. It’s a pretty great sculpt, too. The proportions are all pretty decent, and the face is undoubtedly a George Perez face. I also love how expressive the hands are. Perhaps the only issue with the sculpt is how flat the upper arms are. The paint work doesn’t quite match up to the sculpt, but it’s not bad. For the most part, things are clean, but there are some issues with bleed over on the sculpted lines. The red also has a tendency to bleed through where it shouldn’t. Also, while I like the boots having a glossy sheen, I’m not quite sure why the inside of the cape has been given the same treatment. It looks fine, but it just seems odd. On the plus side, the colors are nice and bold, and the work on the face is very nice. Psycho Pirate includes his Medusa Mask, which fits very nicely on his face, and a display stand that reads “Crisis on Infinite Earths.”

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Psycho Pirate is a figure that actually got me to read the source material so that I had a reason for purchasing the figure. I had seen him in the store, and I liked the look of him, so I picked up one of the anniversary trades of Crisis from my library and gave it a read. Then, just a few weeks later, I received the figure as a birthday present from my brother Christian, who had some help from my dad. Looking back at this figure, I was happy to see it had aged as well as it did. It’s really a very nice figure.

#0388: Alan Scott & Solomon Grundy

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ALAN SCOTT & SOLOMON GRUNDY

DC POCKET HEROES

Before Minimates made it onto the scene, minifigures hadn’t yet settled on being “block” figures. In 2002, DC Direct decided to do a line of smaller scale figures, which were inspired by Mego’s Pocket Super Heroes line of the 80s. Instead of dedicated character sculpts like the original figures, DC Direct opted for a basic body with add-on pieces, not unlike Minimates or LEGO Minifigures (or Kubricks, a contemporary of DC Pocket Heroes.) The line never really hit it big, but it was successful enough to get seven assortments of two-packs and four larger boxed sets. It covered characters from all over the DC Universe, but tended to focus more on “classic” characters and looks. Today, I’ll be taking a look at the line’s versions of Alan Scott, the Golden Age Green Lantern, and Solomon Grundy.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Alan and Grundy were released in the third assortment of the first series of DC Pocket Heroes, released in December of 2002.

ALAN SCOTT

Alan Scott isn’t really anybody’s default Green Lantern, but he’s the original, making him very important. His figure is about 3 ½ inches tall and features 6 points of articulation. He’s based on Alan’s original appearance, back when he was THE Green Lantern. Admittedly, it’s a goofy design, and it doesn’t have the sleekness of the Silver Age design, but it’s not bad. He makes use of the standard Pocket Heroes body, with add-ons for the hair and cape/collar. Unlike Minimates, these pieces aren’t removable, making him a more traditional action figure. The hair and cape are both basic pieces for the line, but they suit the character well, so the re-use is certainly warranted. The base Pocket Heroes body is an interesting piece. It’s a lot clumsier in terms of design than other such bodies. It wasn’t as versatile as DC Direct wanted it to be. However, Alan is one of the characters that fits pretty well on it. The only real issue I see is that the sculpted boots don’t line up with Alan’s actual boots. I don’t know why they didn’t just leave the boots off the sculpt, but I guess that’s what they went with. The paint on Alan Scott is serviceable. It’s nothing amazing, and there are definitely some issues, especially on the color overlay of the boots (the green bleeds through the red, and the red bleeds through the yellow). He’s also got a gash of paint missing on his right eye. However, the paint is mostly bold and colorful, and it looks good for the character. Alan Scott included no accessories.

SOLOMON GRUNDY

Solomon Grundy. Born on a Monday. So, yeah… Grundy is technically a zombie, I guess, and he was a recurrent foe for a few of the Golden Age DC heroes. He had more than a few run-ins with Alan Scott, so this pairing is sensible. Grundy is about 3 ½ inches tall and he sports 6 points of articulation. He’s based on Grundy’s classic, more reserved design. Like Alan, he makes use of the standard Pocket Heroes body, with an add-on for his hair. The hair was new to this figure, though it would eventually see re-use on the line’s version of Bizarro. The body doesn’t work as well here as it did for Alan. The body is very clearly meant to be used for characters in tights, wearing boots. Grundy has neither of those, resulting in an odd looking figure. Obviously a generic suit body wouldn’t have really worked either, but this looks silly. The figure’s paint isn’t too bad, given that they had to work around the base body. Everything is relatively clean, and the detail lines are pretty sharp. The face is kind of gooney looking, though. An, to top it all off, my Grundy figure’s …uhh…backside… fell off right out of the package, which makes him look even sillier!

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve always had a soft spot for the Golden Age Green Lantern. When I was in 2nd grade, I even dressed up as him for Halloween. So, it’s no surprise that I picked up his Pocket Heroes figure. He actually wasn’t as easy for me to get a hold of as some of the others, though. I actually ended up having to special order this set through a local comicbook store because it had sold out. All in all, Pocket Heroes are a sort of a goofy little set of figures. Some of them didn’t really work, but some of them really did. This set includes one of each.

#0366: Willow

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WILLOW

BUFFY PALZ

In the early 2000s, the block figure was in a real upswing. Kubrick had been on the market for a while, and it seemed everyone wanted to get in on the action. Minimates just did okay with their original, larger scale figures, but found a real hit when they launched Marvel Minimates at a smaller size. Up and coming (and , sadly, now-defunct) toy company Palisades launched their own line of block figures, known as PALZ. They managed to get the block figure license for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and they used it to launch the new format. Amongst the earliest releases was Buffy’s best friend Willow Rosenberg, who I’ll be taking a look at today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Willow was part of the first series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer PALZ. Each series of PALZ were based around a particular season of the show, and each figure was based on a specific episode of that season. Willow is based on her appearance in the episode “Nightmares,” a first season episode where the nightmares of all the students at Sunnydale High come to life. Willow is built on the female PALZ body, which means she stands about 3 inches tall and features 14 points of articulation. Since this is my first review of PALZ, I’ll review the PALZ body here. It’s not unlike the Minimate body, though it is taller than the basic one and the arms, hands, and feet are noticeably squared off compared to the smoother edges of a Minimate. PALZ are generally made of a more brittle plastic, as well, making them much more likely to break. Not a bad base body, but not without issue. Willow features additional pieces for her hair, skirt and jacket. Everything fits together quite nicely, though her jacket is difficult to get on and off without risk of breakage. The paint work on Willow is pretty good. In particular, I’m impressed by the fact that the polka-dot pattern of her dress goes all the way around. That’s some serious attention to detail! The laces on the shoes are also a nice touch, and the faces on both sides of the head bear a decent resemblance to Allyson Hannigan. What’s that? Why are there two faces? To allow you to give Willow her alternate look of course! Willow includes a spare torso, arms, skirt and hair piece to allow you to depict her in her kimono look from “Nightmares.” In addition, Willow includes a back pack, a computer monitor and keyboard, and a tombstone (just like the rest of Series One).

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Willow was part of a large set of Buffy PALZ I got not too long after getting into the line. The story behind how I got them is rather neat. I’ve mentioned my membership at the Minimate Multiverse on this site before. Overall, that site is devoted to Minimates, but there is a decent discussion of other toylines, block figures in particular getting a lot of the focus. The other really cool thing that the Multiverse has is a pretty amazing trade forum. So, when I got into Buffy PALZ, I went there to see if I’d have any luck finding any. I came across a really great guy who goes by the handle Buttheadsmate, who had listed that he had duplicates af just about every PALZ ever made, so I got in touch with him to ask about possibly getting a few of the Buffy PALZ I was most interested in. He responded that he’d need a little time to have a look around to see what he could find, but that he’d get back to me. Not too long after that, he got back to me, offering me an almost complete set of Buffy PALZ for an incredibly good price. I was a poor high school student at the time, so I told him I’d need to double check on money. To that he responded that he knew I was good to repay him, and he really just wanted to send them to me. So, with nothing given on my part, he sent me a huge collection of PALZ, pretty much completing my collection in one fell swoop. All he asked in return was that I help in procuring the occasional TRU exclusive Minimate set, as he couldn’t get them in England. I was so very impressed by his generosity, and I went on to find out that I was far from the first member he had done such a thing for.