Tag Archives: 00s

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0041: Gambit

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

GAMBIT

MARVEL LEGENDS (TOY BIZ)

Okay, after a brief interruption in the Flashback Friday Figure Addendums last week, we are back, and we are jumping back onto that Toy Biz bandwagon!  This one strays a bit later than a lot of the Addendums, hitting up Toy Biz’s move to 1/12 scale figures with Marvel Legends.  Let’s look at Gambit!

So, Happy President’s Day, I guess. Um, I don’t really have that much in the way of presidential action figures, so I’m just gonna go ahead as if it’s any other day. But I thought I’d point it out anyway. Just to mess with you.

Looking back at my past reviews, I’m actually a bit shocked by how few reviews I’ve done of ToyBiz’s Marvel Legends. For a while back there they were, like, the only line I really collected, and I’ve done quite a few reviews of DC Direct figures, which I collected about the same time, so it seems odd I haven’t really looked at any of them. I think part of this might be that I have some bad memories of trying to track certain figures down, and part of it might be that the figures just haven’t aged all that well. Or, I’m going by a totally randomized list, and not as many of them have popped up. Who knows? (Well, me but that kinda ruins my intro).

So, in an effort to attempt to correct some slight oversight, I’ll be reviewing the Marvel Legends version of the X-Men’s own resident scum bag, Gambit! Gambit isn’t as big a deal as he once was, but he was pretty big in the 90s, and even into the early 2000s, hence his place in the line. So, let’s take a look at the figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Gambit was released as part of the 4th wave of ToyBiz’s Marvel Legends line. He stands about 6 inches tall, and he has 40 points of articulation. The figure depicts Gambit in him classic pink/blue/black leotard and brown trench coat look that everyone thought was oh so rad in the 90s. It’s a truly hideous design, but I can’t help but be so damned nostalgic about it, because being born in the 90s ruined me as a person. The sculpt was pretty good at the time, but now feels like one of the more outdated sculpts in the line, with huge hands, some pretty serious monkey arms, and an overall emaciated look to him. I think the head still holds up, with that perfect floppy Gambit hair, and the totally in character smirk. The coat isn’t the best tailored thing ever, but it isn’t too bad, and it does somewhat mask the odd proportions of the figure. The figure’s paint is pretty good, though it can be sloppy in some places, particularly the face, which I’ve seen have some variance from figure to figure. I do appreciate that this is one of the only Gambit figures to give him the appropriate black sleeves with those weird pink squares, instead of just leaving them pink. The figure had a really nice assortment of accessories that I wish I still had, including: his staff, an energy explosion with a set of cards to simulate his powers, and a base sculpted to look like a fallen Sentinel hand. These pieces were all pretty cool, and I think I still have the stand in a box with some others, but the other two pieces are long gone.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Believe it or not, Gambit was one of my favorite ToyBiz Legends. I’m not really sure why, as I’m not that big a fan of the character, and the figure isn’t that amazing, but I really liked him. I suppose coming early in the line, he got a lot more play time than some of the later figures, and he was one of the figures in the line who you didn’t have to devote all your free time to tracking down.

He hasn’t aged amazingly well, but he’s still held up better than some of the figures, which does give a leg up. And given Gambit’s rather quick decline in popularity, the character has yet to see any kind of rerelease in the more recent incarnations of the line, which I suppose makes this guy a bit more valuable. 

That is a very long intro, and it sure does take a while to get to the point, doesn’t it?  I was still getting the feel for how to jump into things, I think, and I was still doing a lot of call outs for even more minor holidays, which I just don’t do now.  At this point, I was still recovering from being burned by some bad experiences collecting Toy Biz Legends.  Another decade removed, I’m less that way, and generally feel a bit more nostalgic about the whole experience.  Also, I do kind of rag on Gambit for being not really relevant anymore, which is funny here in 2025, when he’s definitely come back around.

Generally, the review proper’s not bad.  I stand by a lot of what I said.  The sculpt has good aspects, but also some issues as well, much like most of the Toy Biz run of this period.  When I originally reviewed him, he was sans accessories.  Since then, I’ve tracked down the stand (which I knew I had when I reviewed him originally, but just didn’t go to the trouble of tracking down), as well as the charged card effect piece (which I was convinced there was no chance at me finding originally, but I was clearly wrong).  The display bases could be a bit of a mixed bag, but Gambit’s is undoubtedly one of the best from the line, and the best of the running subset of damaged Sentinel bases packed with X-Men characters.

#3872: Sgt. Stone

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

SGT. STONE

G.I. JOE: RISE OF COBRA (HASBRO)

“Sgt. Stone is a special operations instructor who trains the G.I. Joe team in combat tactics, marksmanship, survival techniques and other commando skills. He battles Neo-Viper forces who drill their way into the G.I. Joe Pit headquarters.”

I haven’t personally reviewed a Rise of Cobra figure here on the site since 2017, which is quite a while.  Admittedly, while I had a bunch of the figures when they were new, it’s not a line that I really hung onto, even though I personally like the movie more than a lot of people.  The movie was directed by Stephen Sommers, who also directed The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, and he tried to inject a bit of that flair for the adventure in to Rise of Cobra, meaning it’s, if nothing else, a fun movie.  Sommers brought with him a few of the actors he’d worked with on The Mummy, including Rick O’Connell himself, Brendan Fraser, as the one-scene wonder Sgt. Stone.  One scene was all it took for him to make it to action figure form though, so here we go!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Sgt. Stone was released as part of the G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra tie-in figures in 2009.  The line used a weird and sort of complicated interplay of “collections” and “waves”, and Stone was part of Collection 2 Wave 2…which really just means he was part of the larger push of product made up of the first two waves of both collections that all hit shortly before the film’s release in 2009.  The figure stands 4 inches tall and he has 22 points of articulation.  He shared his torso and legs with the movie version of Zartan, fitting, since Zartan was in Joe fatigues for his figure.  Stone’s construction is the standard 25th style assembly.  It’s generally not a bad set-up, although that mid-torso joint always has a tendency to be a bit finicky.  Stone’s uniquely sculpted pieces include his head, arms, and the armored vest for his torso.  The head doesn’t have a Fraser likeness to speak of; the eyes are too small and too high up, and the mouth sits too low.  He’s very generic.  So, in that regard, I guess he’s not incredibly *unlike* Fraser either.  Just sort of there.  His color work matches the film’s general aesthetic, which was a lot more black, blue, and grey.  There’s a bit of bleedover from the hair on my figure’s left ear, but it’s otherwise decent application.  Stone is packed with a pistol, machine gun, knife, large missile launcher and corresponding missile, and a display stand.  My figure is missing the knife, but honestly I can’t say I miss it.  Beyond that, he gets some decent basic level stuff, and then there’s always that missile launcher, since Hasbro sure did love those.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Despite having quite a few figures from this line when it dropped, and also really liking Brendan Fraser’s brief cameo, for whatever reason, I just never got around to picking one of these up when they were new.  I ultimately regretted that.  While he’s not *rare*, he also doesn’t show up with any crazy frequency.  Thankfully, I was able to snag a loose one from a collection that came through All Time.  He doesn’t really look like Fraser, but he’s still a very nice figure, and I do like having him.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3863: Dr. Fate

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DR. FATE

MYSTICS, MAGES, & MAGICIANS (DC DIRECT)

In the early of DC Direct, they were steering clear of DC’s heaviest hitters, so as to not compete with what Hasbro was doing.  This led to more obscure character coverage, as well as some older character coverage.  In particular, there was quite a run with the Justice Society of America in those early days.  Sort of bridging the gap from the supernatural themes to the JSA themes was the first proper team member, Dr. Fate, who I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Dr. Fate was released in the Mystics, Mages, & Magicians series from DC Direct, which arrived August 16, 2000.  Fate was joined by fellow JSA member Spectre, as well as Zatanna, and John Constantine.  This marked Fate’s second figure, following up on his vintage Super Powers release.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  None of the early DCD figures were tremendously well articulated, but Fate’s definitely got some oddities to him.  The arms are fine enough, but the legs are curiously missing knees, while still having ankles.  It’s good for finding the sweet spot on balancing him, but how close the feet are together does look a little silly.  His sculpt is on the basic side, generally keeping with the early years of DCD.  It’s clean, and bold, and replicates the design of the character pretty well.  He’s got a removable helmet, which reveals a somewhat pin-headed Kent Nelson beneath it, but it’s still a neat idea, at least in theory.  The main helmet is also really nice, and a good replica of the helmet of Nabu from the comics.  Did I say “main helmet”?  Yes I did!  There’s also an alternate helmet, showcasing Fate’s more super-hero-y helmet from the ’60s, which shows off the bottom half of his face.  This is the only time its ever been done in toy form, so it’s certainly nifty!  His color work is generally basic, with flat yellow and blue for the most part.  The helmets and the amulet are all vac metalized, though, which….well, it’s got mixed results, I guess.  It’s certainly a cool idea, but it clashes quite a bit with the flat yellow.  Still, it was nice to see them try something different.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure’s sort of notable for being the earliest instance of me wanting my own copy of a DC Direct figure my dad was already buying.  He had a full set of the series coming from a friend, but I was impatient and wanted to buy my own when they came into Cosmic Comix.  I don’t know why specifically it was Dr. Fate I wanted enough to get my own, but that’s where it landed.  He’s a fun, if perhaps simple figure, and he instilled in me a love for Fate’s rather distinctive design.

#3855: The Demon

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

THE DEMON

OTHER WORLDS (DC DIRECT)

If you look closely, dear readers, you may detect, a preference on Tuesdays for DC Direct.  In particular, characters on the supernatural side, who’s offerings in the company’s early days were indeed quite wide.  Etrigan the Demon was introduced in 1972, by Jack Kirby, who wrote him, as well as drew.  Others have since followed on Kirby’s work, and crafted a character full of quirk.  One particular quirk he keeps almost all of the time, is a propensity to speak his words in rhyme.  I’ll be doing the same for this review, because I suppose I’m rather quirky, too.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Demon, who here’s not called Etrigan, completes the Other Worlds set that Hal Spectre began.  He’s the last in the series, following the last two, and this is where he made his figure debut.  The figure possesses just over 5 inches in height, because his sculpted hunch brings his total down a might.  He moves in 11 different places, but that movement’s restricted in most of those cases.  His sculpt’s quite pre-posed, but don’t be a grouch, it’s so he can have his signature crouch.  It’s true indeed, I have to be fair, that it gives the character a dynamic flair.  The joints are unfortunately quite prone to breaking, something that sucks, there’s no mistaking.  On mine, in particular, I’ve to to make do, with loosing both knees and an elbow too.  They do at least hold in place tight, so that the figure can still look alright.  The sculpt is unique, and quite impressive, it’s remarkable how they’ve made it so expressive.  It’s quite fun and to the character true, so it seems they really knew what to do.  The cloth cape is something I really enjoy, as that’s something that can be iffy on a toy.  Thankfully the material is quite thick, making its choice a solid pick.  Speaking of thick, it also describes the paint, and these days, I suppose it’s a little quaint.  The colors work well, at the very least, making him a quite bold little beast.  The application is also fairly clean, so at this time I don’t have to be mean.  The Demon doesn’t get to accessorize, which owes to his bulkier build, I’d theorize.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

To my collection, the Demon I did add, with the assistance of my supportive dad.  He wasn’t in any way the only one, as I got him with Hal back in 2001 (I should specify I mean the one that was Spectre, not the one from the movie with Kubrick as director).  Demon had just appeared on the Batman show, which had made him a character of whom I’d know.  The timing was good for him getting this toy, and it was certainly one that a young me did enjoy.  Other Etrigans have been released since, ranging best to worst, but none have displaced this one that’s the first.

#3851: Deadman

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

DEADMAN

OTHER WORLDS (DC DIRECT)

The early days of DC Direct provided focus on some up to then overlooked characters, all held together by some pretty nifty themes.  There was a particular focus on the supernatural side of things in those early years, which featured the first chance at action figure coverage for Boston Brand, better known as Deadman!  So, let’s look at that very first Deadman figure today, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Deadman is the second figure in DC Direct’s Other Worlds series, released in June 2001.  Where Hal Jordan as the Spectre was a very recent addition in the comics at the time, Deadman was actually the oldest of the three characters featured in the line-up.  The figure stands just under 7 inches tall and he has 15 points of articulation.  Deadman is notably on the larger side for the character, given DCD’s relative scaling at the time.  He, coupled with the Martian Manhunter released right around the same time, shows the beginnings of the size creep that would plague DCD to the very end.  The plus side is, I guess, that he fits in well with later figures?  His sculpt is rather on the stylized side of things, with a fair bit of pre-posing.  He does get a decent amount of posability, though, especially for the era of figure from DCD.  Of course, said joints are quite prone to breakage, as is very much true to this era of DCD.  On my figure, his right shoulder’s actually split, so there’s that.  The paint work on Deadman’s basic, but generally works.  Like Spectre, he’s glow-in-the-dark, but *unlike* Hal, he’s painted with glow-in-the-dark paint.  It’s a little closer to actual white when not glowing, and it holds a glow better, which is nice.  It is, however, more prone to scratching and scuffing, which can be a bit frustrating.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Deadman’s the only one of these I didn’t get at release, largely because my Dad got that one, and we only got the one set.  The one seen here, I got later, actually courtesy of All Time Toys, almost a decade before my sponsorship, when they were still at their very first location.  He’s actually a pretty good start for the character, and I’d hasten to say that I don’t really think the classic Deadman design’s been done better justice than this one.

#3847: Spectre – Hal Jordan

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SPECTRE — HAL JORDAN

OTHER WORLDS (DC DIRECT)

As I anxiously await having more Super Powers to review, I’m going to be getting my DC fix by taking a dive into my back catalogue of DC figures from years gone by.  In the late ’90s/early ’00s, DC Direct started making a splash in the DC toy world by offering up figures of the non-Batman and Superman denizens of the DC universe, especially giving focus to the weirder element of things.  In 1999, after a redemptive death as Parallax, Hal Jordan was chosen as the new host for The Spectre, DC’s spirit of vengeance.  For about 6 years, that was Hal’s main bit, and during that period, he managed to get an action figure of him in the role, courtesy of those oddballs over at DC!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spectre — Hal Jordan was released in DC Direct’s Other Worlds line-up, which hit in June of 2001.  A roughly year and a half turnaround time was actually quite quick for such a line, so that was quite a cool bit for Hal.  This was Hal’s second figure under DCD, following up on his Hard Traveling Heroes release from the year prior.  It is, to date, the only figure of Hal from his time as the Spectre.  The figure stands just under 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  Hal’s presence in this set owes to two things: firstly, the Jim Corrigan version of Spectre had been released the year prior, so they needed a different one for this spirit-based line-up, and secondly they needed a parts re-use heavy figure to offset costs.  As such, he’s an almost complete re-use of the Hard Traveling Heroes Hal.  Given that Hal’s Spectre design intentionally referenced his GL design, it’s far from the worst choice.  It helps that it’s just a pretty strong sculpt in the first place, and really holds up as one of DCD’s best from their early days.  It’s not terribly posable, I suppose (the v-hips in particular are tricky to work with), but it’s got a good balance to the proportions and there’s a cool Neal Adams vibe to it that’s just always super cool.  The only new sculpted part is the left lower arm, which is now an open gesture, rather than a grip.  What’s interesting is that they chose to replace his left hand, not his right, meaning the figure still has a sculpted right on his right hand, which is kind of funny.  It’s all topped off with a cloth cloak piece, which is a really nice piece, with an inner lining, and a wire on the edge for posing.  Hal’s color work is generally basic, but by far the coolest thing about it is the glow-in-the-dark plastic used for the bulk of it.  I’m a real sucker for glow-in-the-dark stuff.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Hasbro 9-inch Hal was my first Hal Jordan figure in general, but this one was my first Hal in a more conventional scale.  My dad had a friend who worked at Diamond, and he would get us DC Direct figures, and my dad made sure he ordered me this one.  Even though he wasn’t a GL, this guy got a ton of play time as my primary Hal Jordan.  The fact that he has a generally green palette allowed me to fudge things a bit as to which identity he was using.  I remember in particular him accompanying me to our attempt to go see the Fourth of July fireworks in 2001, which got rained out, and holding him up to the window as we passed road lights trying to get his glow feature to charge.  He remains one of my favorites to this day.  Looking back on him, I’m still impressed by just how good a sculpt he’s got, and it’s neat that we got this look at all, given how scarce it’s become overall.

#3818: Iron Man – First Appearance

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IRON MAN — FIRST APPEARANCE

MARVEL LEGENDS (TOY BIZ)

And here we are, back at the Toy Biz Marvel Legends.  Sure, they’re not as numerous as the 5-inch line (especially not when it comes to my collection in particular), but there still are a lot of them, and they still make up a decent little chunk of my Marvel collection.  As Toy Biz went deeper into their run with the line (which was, admittedly, just a drop in the bucket compared to what Hasbro’s been doing), they revisited some of the main characters.  Despite not yet getting his major boost from his live action movie, Iron Man was nevertheless a consistent character in the line, appearing in six out of its fifteen series.  Towards the tail end of their run, we got him in his original get-up, which I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Iron Man was released in the Mojo Series of Marvel Legends, the 14th standard assortment release, and penultimate series from Toy Biz.  He and his cohorts were a sort of under the wire release, hitting just before the holiday season, a month or so before Toy Biz handed the reins over the Hasbro.  The figure stands almost 7 inches tall and he has 39 points of articulation.  Boy, is that a lot of articulation.  It’s partly so high because they gave him individually articulated fingers, which don’t do a ton, but also manage to not look as terrible here as on other figures from the line.  He does notably lack the line’s usual mid-torso movement and toe joints, but neither of those was likely to work to well with the design.  As it is, he’s got a lot of joints that give him an okay amount of movement, but not as much as other figures, due to his bulky nature.  His sculpt was totally unique, and remained so, only being shared with his variant.  It’s honestly a pretty good one.  The articulation sticks out a bit in some spots, but not as badly as some of the other TB Legends.  He also manages to look quite a bit like the proper first appearance design, and to my eye looks more on the mark than Hasbro’s more recent offering, especially around the shaping of the eyes on the mask.  His faceplate is removable, revealing Tony Stark’s face beneath.  It was a feature share with most of Toy Biz’s Legends Iron Men, and one that works better, I think, on those than it really does here.  Still, it’s not a bad sculpt, and this one feels like it was the closest Toy Biz got to just giving us Timothy Dalton as Tony.  There were two different color schemes in play for this release.  The standard was silver, depicting his proper first appearance armor, while the variant was gold, as it was starting with his second appearance.  The paint’s pretty much the same for either, just swapping the palette out.  There’s some slight accenting on the main armor, which works okay, but they’re also a little prone to scuffing.  And, if you want to get technical, the variant *should* get a different waist piece, but that clearly wasn’t in TB’s budget at the time.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I stuck with Toy Biz’s Legends to the very end, though I did get spotty on some of the releases.  That said, this one I didn’t skip.  At least the standard, who was a Christmas gift from my parents on the year of his release.  He’s one of the handful of Toy Biz’s run that I think honestly held up pretty well, hence my rather critical view of the Hasbro version.  I managed to snag the variant in the last year or so, for a pretty good deal, just before Hasbro updated that one, too.  They have some spots that show their age, but I generally really like them.

#3817: Elite Corps Clone Trooper – Combat on Kashyyk

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ELITE CORPS CLONE TROOPER — COMBAT ON KASHYYK

STAR WARS: SAGA COLLECTION (HASBRO)

“The specialized troopers in the 41st Elite Corps are deployed on the beach of Kashyyyk to battle droid forces invading from the water. Swarms of droids overrun the beach but the elite troopers hold them back, supporting their Republic leaders… until the Emperor orders the corps’ commander to execute Order 66.”

Ah, whoa, whoops, looks like I dropped my review there yesterday.  Okay, that makes it seem like an accident.  It wasn’t.  At about 9:30 last night, I decided I just didn’t have the energy in me to write a review about Blue Centurion.  So, you know, something to look forward to for next week?  Today, I’m setting my sights back on Star Wars, though.  My favorite troopers have always been the Biker Scouts, so I’m always excited to see some variant of them show up elsewhere.  In Revenge of the Sith, that variant of them was green, which is extra exciting, and an excellent way to get me to buy another figure of a Clone Trooper, which is admittedly not super hard to do in the first place.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Elite Corps Clone Trooper was released as part of Star Wars: The Saga Collection, the franchise-spanning line that immediately followed the Revenge of the Sith tie-in.  He was figure #65, and one of the many that served as an extension of the RotS line’s run.  RotS was surprisingly light on the clone figures up front, so there were a lot of them here.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 22 points of articulation.  Structurally, he’s a straight re-paint of the Vintage Original Trilogy Collection Biker Scout.  Now, the thing is, it’s not strictly accurate; while the designs are certainly very close, there are a number of changes to the Elite Corps design, that obviously aren’t represented here.  But, on the flip side, it’s a really good mold, and it’s really fun to mess with.  The articulation’s great, and it doesn’t break up the sculpt too much to get there.  On top of that, his inaccuracy kind of makes him feel like he belongs with the similarly inaccurate clones from the RotS line.  So, you know, maybe not that bad?  His paint work also isn’t strictly speaking screen accurate, but it is strictly speaking pretty cool looking.  It gets the general vibe down, I feel, and that feels like the most important thing in light of the sculpt not being accurate to begin with.  There were two versions of the visor color (much like with the original Gree), and mine is the lighter of the two (which matches my Gree!  Hooray for consistency!), which I dig.  The Trooper was packed with a small blaster pistol and a medium sized blaster rifle, as well as a display stand that is not pictured.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I dig the general vibe of this design, but I can’t say I’m in love with the specifics of it, so figures that are more accurate don’t do as much for me.  In that regard, this figure feels strangely perfect for me.  And, in light of there being other, more accurate versions of the same design for those that want a proper one, he can just be a quirky step towards the accurate figure, and also go perfectly with my original Gree, who is also not accurate, but also still very much entertains me.  It’s because of this that, when I got the chance to snag this one, I swapped him with the more accurate 30th Anniversary figure already in my collection.  I don’t regret that swap, and I don’t regret getting this figure at all.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3809: Daredevil

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

DAREDEVIL

SPIDER-MAN: CLASSICS (TOY BIZ)

Last week, Daredevil: Born Again, the long-awaited continuation of Netflix’s Daredevil show, dropped its first two episodes, and I’m officially in that Daredevil vibe again, so let’s talk a little bit of Daredevil.  Thanks to the show’s success, we’ve gotten a few instances of ol’ Horn-Head horn-headlining his own set of Marvel Legends, but it wasn’t always that way; he used to pretty much only get by on Spider-Man’s coattails.  Today, I’m jumping back even earlier than last week’s Toy Biz Marvel Legends review, to their pre-cursor line, Spider-Man: Classics, which granted us our first 6-inch Daredevil!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Daredevil was released in Series 2 of Spider-Man: Classics.  There were two versions, a standard red, and a variant yellow.  I looked at the yellow one *way* back in 2014, during my first year here on the site, so here’s the standard.  Daredevil actually wasn’t in the original line-up for the series, with Scarlet Spider in his place for the initial announcement.  It seems like maybe they realized that three out of the four figures being a Spider-Man might not quite work, so DD got the nod to fill out the assortment, and Scarlet Spider was moved to a KB Toys exclusive.  The figure stands just over 6 inches tall and he has 30 points of articulation (which was proudly boasted on the package).  He’s the exact same sculpt as the variant, so he’s using Black Spidey as the staring point, with a new head, hands, feet, and holster.  It’s a sculpt that certainly shows its age, and is hampered a bit by the lack of bicep swivels (which were standardized with the First Appearance Spidey in this same assortment), but there’s a neat stylistic element to it.  I’ve always particularly enjoyed the head sculpt.  This figure’s color work isn’t as involved as his variant, since he’s all-red, rather than the mix of the yellow suit.  It’s not bad, though the boots and gloves not getting any difference in shading reduces their ability to stand out.  The belt, symbol, and eyes do, at least, and there’s airbrushing on the body that really helps to break up all the flat red.  The figure is packed with his billy club, a wall-mountable display stand that looks like a stained glass window, and a copy of Daredevil #241.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was so invested in getting this guy’s variant back in the day that I wound up missing out on the standard entirely during its run at retail.  By the time I wanted to go back, he’d dried up and we were onto newer releases.  I eventually did find the variant, and I love that one, but I still didn’t have this guy, and that felt off.  I finally got one via a trade-in at work last year.  He’s not quite as unique as the yellow version, and there’s a lot more options for this costume design, but I do still really dig him for what he is.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3804: Captain America – Ultimate

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CAPTAIN AMERICA — ULTIMATE

MARVEL LEGENDS (TOY BIZ)

“In 1940, as America prepared for war, young and frail Steve Rogers volunteered for an experiment that transformed him into the ultimate physical specimen: Captain America. Enhanced by the Super-Soldier Serum, Captain America’s agility, strength, endurance and reaction time were superior to those of an Olympic-level athlete. Cap also mastered a number of fighting forms, including American-style boxing and judo. These abilities, combined with his indestructible shield, made him one of the finest human combatants Earth had ever known. Steve Rogers battled the Nazis until a mishap placed him in suspended animation deep within the Himalayan Mountains. Decades later he was discovered by Tony Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D. and became a cornerstone of the Ultimates.”

It’s a new month, but I’m still keeping that Toy Biz Marvel train rolling, albeit in a slightly different fashion.  Last month it was all 5-inch figures, but this month, I’m taking it up a notch…and I mean that literally, because the figures are actually gonna be taller, because we’re jumping ahead into the Marvel Legends era for a bit.  Yeah, it’s classic Marvel Legends!  And, I’m still sort of staying in a comfort zone, with a look at one of the line’s Captain Americas…well, two of them, I guess.  And, sure, it’s Ultimate Cap, but I’ll take what I can get.  At least he always makes for a pretty decent toy.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ultimate Captain America was released in Series 8 of Toy Biz’s Marvel Legends, which was the last series before the introduction of Build-A-Figures, which also led to Toy Biz abandoning the actual numbering for the line.  He was one of the three figures in the line-up to get a variant, which I’ll touch on later in the review.  The figure stands just shy of 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 46 points of articulation.  His articulation’s pretty typical of this era of Toy Biz’s run.  It’s not bad, but it’s definitely a little over complicated relative to the range of motion he gets.  It’s also prone to getting a bit loose over time, especially on the hips.  The sculpt was all-new, and it was…well, it was certainly something.  The articulation definitely took the precedent on this one, so the flow of the sculpt is a little bit odd and disjointed.  His proportions are sort of odd, with the head being a bit small, and the hands and feet being a bit large.  He’s also got a little bit of a hunch.  That said, the work on outfit, especially the texturing, is really good, and conveys the modernized take on his design well.  The variant figure gets a unique head sculpt, which adds the classic head wings.  It’s also just totally different from the standard, with a slightly friendlier expression, which makes more sense for the 616 version of the character.  He’s more modernized to match the body sculpt, so there’s extra stitching, as well as straps on the sides.  It’s an interesting approach, but perhaps not the most truly classic version.  It serves more as a prototype for the more proper classic Cap they built out of this mold the following year.  The paint work on the figure is pretty decent.  There’s a lot of accenting to bring out the sculpted elements, and it works pretty well.  The standard version gets additional grey detailing, as is proper to the Ultimate design, while the standard is straight blue.  However, early versions of the two figures had the details reversed, giving Ultimate Cap the full blue look, and Classic Cap the grey, meaning there are actually a total of four different versions of this figure.  Regardless of the version, Cap is packed with his shield (the same one used with the Series 1 figure), a display stand, and a poster booklet (in place of the usual comic book).  The poster book, interestingly, is actually more classic Cap images than Ultimate, but I’m hardly complaining.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m really not a fan of Ultimate Captain America as a character, so I wasn’t much for this one at the time of his release.  I also had the Series 1 version, and he was pretty much perfect to me.  That said, I’ve gotten more comfortable with having a lot of Captain America figures these days, so I ended up snagging the standard release sealed a couple of years ago, and then the variant loose just last year.  And now I have them both.  They’re kind of a mixed bag, but an intriguing part of the Cap Legends genealogy.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with these figures to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.