Tag Archives: 00s

#3590: Abe Sapien

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

ABE SAPIEN

HELLBOY (MEZCO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0069:  In the 2004 Hellboy movie, Abe Sapien is voiced by an uncredited David Hyde-Pierce, who after seeing Doug Jones’ on-set performance of the character refused to be credited.

20 years ago this week, Hellboy hit theaters.  It was a big deal for the franchise, and it was a big deal for me, because it was my first introduction to the characters.  I found myself instantly enamored, and I was particularly a fan of Hellboy’s fellow “freak” from the BPRD, Abe Sapien.  Abe’s remained my favorite part of the franchise since, and I do love to collect him in toy form when I can.  Let’s check out one of those today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Abe Sapien was released in the first series of Mezco’s Hellboy movie tie-in line.  This one is the standard release, but there was also a shirted PX-exclusive, which I reviewed back in 2018.  The figure stands 7 3/4 inches tall and he has 25 points of articulation.  As I’ve discussed before, the articulation on these figures is an interesting mix.  This is a line that ran concurrent with Toy Biz’s Marvel Legends, which was setting some pretty major standards for articulation.  Compared to that, this has some restrictive spots.  But, it’s certainly serviceable.  Abe’s sculpt is the same one used by the exclusive.  It’s a pretty solid one, and it does a nice job of capturing Abe’s movie design.  It’s a little stylized, as is Mezco’s way, but I feel like it works well for Abe’s design.  Abe’s paint work is decent enough.  The patterning on his skin is pretty impressive, and I do like the shiny finish.  It’s a bit less murky in its coloring than the PX version, which I think helps.  Abe includes an extra head with goggles, plus the collar and rebreather device, his belt, and a small Samael (not pictured).  The alternate head doesn’t really work, since he’s always wearing the shirt with the rebreather set-up, but the thought is there, and it did at least give them the tooling in advance for the repaint.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I really wanted this figure when the movie came out, but the tie-in figures were tricky to find at best.  I saw this guy maybe one time, and didn’t get him, and that was that.  I did eventually get the exclusive, which was a perfectly fine stand-in, but I still wanted this one.  Thankfully, I had one land in front of me a month or so back.  Sure, he’s not drastically different than the repaint, but I do really love this figure, no matter how he’s painted.

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.

#3562: Freestyle Skate Batman

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

FREESTYLE SKATE BATMAN

BATMAN: MISSION MASTERS (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0041: Terry McGuinness is never seen skateboard in or out of the Batman costume in Batman Beyond, but that didn’t stop Hasbro from making a figure based on that very concept.

My relationship with Hasbro’s run with the DC license was a particularly good one.  While Kenner had managed an alright balance of accurate to the source figures and goofy variants during their run with the DC license, Hasbro honed in on the wackiness, especially narrowing in on Batman, and ignoring most of the DCU for…well, a bunch of rather silly Bat-variants.  The end of the animated Batman tie-ins was an all-encompassing line, Mission Masters, where the express purpose was just doing nothing but baseless variants.  As the line progressed, even Batman Beyond, whose own line was never super to begin with, got in on the action.  One time they made him a skater, because it was 2000, and that was what they decided the kids like.  Full disclosue: I wasn’t one of those kids.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Freestyle Skate Batman was part of the third round of Mission Masters, dubbed Mission Masters 3, and he was a deluxe-sized release.  The figure stands about 5 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  He was noteworthy for getting a disc and peg set-up on the shoulders, in contrast to the simple cut joint that almost every Hasbro/Kenner DC figure got.  Why did he get the extra movement?  No clue.  It’s cool, though.  His sculpt was all-new, and it’s…well, it’s a Batman variant.  The head sculpt is very much consistent with Hasbro’s other BB head sculpts, which is to say it’s not exactly an accurate recreation of the animation model, but it’s not terribly far off.  The rest of the sculpt is definitely on the goofier side.  He’s quite pre-posed, and his design maintains elements from his standard look, but adds a bunch of extra ones, because I guess that’s what you do when you’re skating?  His color work is again pretty close to the standard, though he’s a metallic blue, rather than black.  He’s accented with some slightly bronzed silver.  I particularly dig the tech detailing on the wings.  Batman wouldn’t be much of a “Freestyle Skate” guy without some form of skateboard, so he gets just that.  It’s big, silly, strange, and it launches a big missile.  So, there it is.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t buy this new.  I saw it a good many times, as I did most of the Mission Masters figures.  I generally disliked Mission Masters when it was at retail, because it never really felt authentic.  I wanted other characters, and I didn’t dig the switch to purely odd Batmen.  But, I’ve mellowed over the years a bit, so when I got the opportunity to pick up a loose one a few years back, I jumped on it.  He’s pretty fun.  Silly, but fun.

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.

#3542: Prince Adam

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

PRINCE ADAM

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (MATTEL)

(Not So) Fun FiQ Fact #0021:  I’m coming into this MotU review with an unfortunately re-ignited frustration towards the Classics era of the line…or at least some of it’s management.  Thankfully, I’m not focusing on that era!  Yay!

My introduction to Masters of the Universe was the 2002 re-launch of the brand, specifically the pilot movie to the cartoon, which aired during Cartoon Network’s Cartoon Theatre.  I really loved it, and got a basic He-Man from the tie-in line almost immediately.  The line was notoriously hard to find, though, so follow-ups to He-Man were on the trickier side.  But, even during the original run, I did manage to snag He-Man’s alter ego Prince Adam, who in this incarnation was actually convincingly a different guy.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Prince Adam was released in the third main assortment of the rebooted Masters of the Universe line from 2002.  The figure stands a little under 6 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation.  He was notably smaller than the rest of the Heroic Warriors, accurately depicting the smaller stature Adam had in the cartoon.  His articulation matched the rest of the line; it’s hardly super-posable, but it was an improvement on the vintage line, which was cool at the time.  Adam’s sculpt was, like the rest of the line, handled by Four Horsemen Studios.  Honestly, it’s one of my favorites from the line, just because it was different from everything else.  It takes the core elements of the vintage Adam design, and translates them into something more in-line with the updated aesthetics of the line.  There’s plenty of detail work, and it’s a pretty nice example of subtlety from the line.  Adam’s paint work is decently handled.  It’s largely on the basic side, but the application is clean.  He could definitely benefit from some additional accenting, but that was really true of this whole line.  Adam was packed with the “powered-down” version of the Power Sword, as well as a scepter thing, which originally included a missile launcher-style case, but I’ve lost that.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

My dad had driven me around to a few stores when I was looking for a basic He-Man, and from that point on, he kept a pretty close eye on the line’s other releases.  This one in particular he kept an eye out for, because it had all the markings of a particularly tricky to get release, and he wound up finding me one in a much shorter fashion than I think either of us expected.  He’s basic, and kind of just a statue, but still definitely my favorite version of Adam.

#3531: Jean Grey

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

JEAN GREY

X-MEN CLASSICS (TOY BIZ)

Fun FiQ Fact #0010: Jean Grey’s Jim Lee costume has received 11 action figures since its debut.

As a kid, my introduction to the X-Men was the animated series, which drove my desire for the whole cast of characters in action figure form.  The toyline running concurrently with the show was actually comics-based, but still generally managed to get a lot of looks that were close enough to work.  There were, however, some omissions, as well as some…odd ways of doing figures.  Despite being a main character on the show, Jean’s only figure in the line proper for most of its run was a single Phoenix figure, which wasn’t her main get-up on the series.  That look got some action figure love, sure, but Toy Biz’s takes always felt a bit monkey’s paw-like; you’d get her, but at some sort of trade off.  My search for a good one ran for a good number of years.  The closest I got was in 2000, and it was a figure that I was honestly pretty thrilled to get, even though she’s maybe not the most thrilling figure at the end of it all.  Still, here she is!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Jean Grey is part of Toy Biz’s X-Men Classics line, which they launched in 2000 to run some old molds in new packaging between the toys for X-Men: The Movie and X-Men: Evolution.  While most of the figures were minor tweaks to existing releases, the Battle Blasters figures all got more substantial tweaks, in order to make them less Age of Apocalypse-inspired and more standard.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and has 5 points of articulation.  Her mold is almost identical to the original “Secret Weapon Force” release, which was just the Jean mold that Toy Biz had on hand at the time, I guess.  It does at the very least fill in the etched lines for the boots and gloves from the mold’s original use as Mystique.  For all of the re-uses the body saw during Toy Biz’s run, I do believe this is the only time they got rid of those.  It definitely helps with the overall look.  The mold’s not bad; the body is basic, and the head, while definitely more dialed into the AoA version of the character, isn’t horrible.  The main change-up, obviously, is the paint, which now puts her in her Jim Lee costume…or at least something close to it.  There are some sculpted details that don’t line up; the hair’s too short, and she lacks the shoulder pads and leg pouches.  That’s kind of expected, and it’s certainly closer than the other repaint they did for this costume.  The only thing that really stands out to me as “off” is the hands being yellow, but even that was a back and forth thing, with it only more recently being decided that she didn’t wear gloves with the costume.  This Jean release got the exact same accessory as her original “Secret Weapon” release: the Catapult Tank Blaster.  It’s a big green and black thing, and it’s hella goofy.  But, hey, at least I got two of them, right?

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

I vividly recall finding this figure in a Toys R Us, early December, still in post-X-Men: The Movie bliss, and being absolutely thrilled.  Then less so, because it was early December, which was typically a time of no toy purchases, what with the inevitable onslaught of figures I’d be getting as Christmas gifts.  My parents, however, recognized the significance of the figure, and allowed me to break their usual rule, so that I could finally have the Jean Grey I’d been waiting so long for.  She’s not much to write home about; she’s just the Secret Weapon Force Jean with a new deco, and that one wasn’t anything special either.  But, I was always very happy with her, and she’s still pretty nifty, even if there are better Jim Lee style Jeans these days.

#3511: Blue Beetle

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

BLUE BEETLE

CLASSIC HEROES (DC DIRECT)

“Picking up the mantle of his predecessor, and lacking the mystical blue scarab that gave Garrett super-powers, Ted Kord turned his skills as an acrobat and Olympic-level athlete to fighting crime as the new BLUE BEETLE! With the technical knowhow to create the flying Bug, his mobile crime-fighting base, Blue Beetle is a potent force against the underworld!”

One of the best things about this year’s Blue Beetle movie (which is really, really good by the way, so please check it out) was how lovingly faithful it was to the legacy of the character.  While the story is very definitely Jaime’s, the scarab’s two previous owners are both addressed.  Ted Kord may not directly appear in the film, there’s no denying that he is a very much an integral player in the overall story, and a lot of his history with the role is explored, which was so very cool.  Of course, with no Ted on-screen, there’s no Ted for the minor amount of tie-in toys, so I’ll just have to rely on my backlog of them for a while, huh?  Let’s take a jump back to early in his figure run, then!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Blue Beetle was released in DC Direct’s Classic Heroes line-up.  He was released in June of 2002, back when they were still just kind of one long-running line with each assortment fitting a different theme.  Classic Heroes was a set specifically based on the characters DC had acquired from other companies, with Beetle and The Question showcasing Charlton Comics, and wave-mates Phantom Lady and Uncle Sam showcasing Quality Comics.  This marked Ted’s second figure, following up on his JLA figure from 1999.  The figure stands about 6 inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation.  Blue Beetle got a unique sculpt for this release.  He’s definitely patterned more on his earliest DC appearances, prior to his “Bwa-ha-ha” era, but not quite going full Charlton in design.  It’s a good sculpt, very clean and concise.  It’s not super posable, but it does the basics, much like the Legion figures from the same era.  Ted’s got a fairly realistic and balanced set of proportions, so he’s not superhuman, which feels right for the character.  His lower legs do seem maybe a touch too short, but it’s pretty minor.  The goggles are a separate piece on the head, allowing you to see his eyes beneath, which is definitely a cool touch.  Beetle’s paint work is very clean and very sharp, which I really dig.  The colors are quite bold, and feel proper for the character.  I love how the black line-work turned out, and his eyes look really good beneath the goggles.  Ted is packed with his BB Gun and grapple line.  The grapple has a suction cup on the end, so you can hang him from windows and such, which is really great fun.  The only downside is that he’s only got one gripping hand, so he hand hold onto the line and his BB gun at the same time.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I knew of Blue Beetle more as a concept than an actual character when this figure came out, but his release actually got me more interested.  Unfortunately, my local comic shop, Cosmic Comix, sold out of him before I could actually get one back in the day, and I’ve not seen one in person since.  Well, that is, until Cosmic Comix got one traded in over the summer.  Hey, it’s a fun little roundabout way of getting the figure, I suppose.  I’m glad I finally found this guy, because I do really love him.  I’ve gotten other versions of Ted since this one’s release, but something about this one just seems so…quaint?  I don’t know, but I love it.

#3390: Star Sapphire

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

STAR SAPPHIRE

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED (MATTEL)

Outside of DC’s main trinity of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, when the shift from Golden Age to Silver Age occurred, most of the heroes rogues galleries were restarted completely from scratch.  Since a good number of the heroes were really just re-using the name, and applying it to a totally new character, there was very little reason to carry anything else over.  One exception of note was Star Sapphire, a Golden Age Flash foe whose name would be re-used in the Silver Age as an antagonist for the new version of Green Lantern.*  Like GL, she got a re-work to update the concept.  She was now Hal Jordan’s love interest Carol Ferris, imbued with the powers of the Zamarons, who sought to prove that women were a superior force to men, by using their own Star Sapphire to bring down the male Green Lantern.  Carol held the title for a while, with the persona manifesting as a split personality that she retained no memories of, and after she was rid of it, others were granted the power as well, before it was ultimately re-worked into a parallel Lantern corps to the Green Lantern.  But, before they went that crazy with it, a version of the character was featured in Justice League and its follow-up Justice League Unlimited, where she’s just kind of a run of the mill villain with unexplored ties to Green Lantern.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Star Sapphire was added to Mattel’s Justice League Unlimited tie-in line in 2007.  She was part of the seventh series of three packs under the “DC Universe” branding, in a set that also included Sand and the extra articulation version of Superman.  She was subsequently re-released on her own in 2010.  Star Sapphire is, of course, based on her animated design, which marked a fair bit of a departure from her comics look.  It’s not a bad one, though, and certainly paired well with the redesign for GL.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and she has 5 points of articulation.  None of that articulation’s particularly useful, mind you, since the neck is effectively rendered motionless by the hair, and the v-hips offer no practical movement of any sort.  She can move her arms up a bit, I suppose, so, you know, there’s that.  Star Sapphire is based on Mattel’s generic female body, which was never a particularly good one.  It’s got kind of funky proportions and an odd stance.  It also doesn’t really stand up well.  She got a new head sculpt, which is at least a pretty decent recreation of her appearances on the show.  Unfortunately, it’s not very well served by the paint work, which is thick, sloppy, and has a rather uneven texture.  I appreciate what they were going for with the gloss finish on the pink sections, but they don’t help with the odd texture, and the face is even worse.  She looks unwell.  Star Sapphire included a display stand with both releases (all the figures on this body did, since it was so poor at balancing on its own feet), and the single also added an effect piece.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

While I’m certainly a GL fan, I’ll admit that the animated version of Star Sapphire never much clicked with me.  She always felt like more of a space filler than anything.  Even when it came to this line, that was kind of the case, since it’s not like there’s any sensible reason for packing her with the two characters she came with.  What’s more, the actual quality of the figure feels kind of lackluster, making her the weakest entry in a three pack where one figure was a total re-hash.  It’s kind of a shame, but at least she got a figure, I guess.

*The Golden Age Star Sapphire would also later be connected to the Zamarons, who created the Silver Age incarnation, via a retcon establishing her as a someone who was vying for the Zamaron throne and had been exiled.

#3385: Atom Smasher

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

ATOM SMASHER

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED (MATTEL)

When the titular team of Justice League expanded its roster for the follow-up Justice League Unlimited, they had to reach beyond just canon Leagers from the comics, including a number of other unaffiliated heroes, and, of course, rolling in some competing teams’ rosters as well.  Since the JLA’s predecessors the Justice Society had not been adapted into the earlier show (apart from their role in the comics being referenced by stand-ins the Justice Guild in “Legends”), a mix of their classic and modern rosters were added to the League.  From the modern side, there was Albert Rothstien, aka Atom Smasher.  Atom Smasher was never really more than a cameo role, with a few focuses during some of the more involved fight scenes, but never a speaking role.  Still, he did get included in the toyline, so he had that going for him.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Atom Smasher was first added to Mattel’s Justice League Unlimited tie-in line in the third assortment of three-packs, released in early 2005.  He was packed alongside re-packs of the more articulated Green Lantern and Flash figures.  He was re-released later that same year as a single release.  The figure stands about 4 3/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Atom Smasher is based on the larger male base body, based on tooling that originally belonged to the first Superman figure.  It’s the largest available base body, and one that matches respectably well with how Atom Smasher is depicted on the show, at least in terms of build.  He was, however, almost always shown as above average size, so he’s woefully short for Atom Smasher.  But, without the re-use, it’s not like he was going to get made.  His only new part is a head sculpt.  It’s a little on the small side, but that seems to match with his internal proportions alright.  It’s fully masked, so there’s not a ton of detailing, but it gets what it needs to.  The rest of the detailing is carried via paintwork, which is handled alright.  Not amazing, or anything.  Of note, the sections that should be blue are more of a purple.  That, coupled with the slightly darker shade of the gold for his belt, kind of muddies the overall look of his design.  At the very least, a little bit more actual line work may have helped to differentiate the costume elements just a bit more.  As it stands, it’s okay, but just sort of “meh.”  The three-pack version of Atom Smasher didn’t include any extras, which was honestly okay, since he doesn’t use much.  For the single release, he got an extra large hand clip-on piece.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This Atom Smasher didn’t start out as mine.  Back when the JLU line was running, there was a Walmart on the way home from where my family vacationed, which was out of the way enough to be the perfect spot to find new JLU figures.  On the trip that got me my Hawk and Dove figures, my brother got the set that included this guy.  He got out of action figure collecting for the most part a few years ago, and this figure was one of the ones I inherited when he purged a lot of his collection.  He’s not the line’s strongest offering, that’s for sure, but he does alright, given the confines of how these guys were made.

#3380: Kyle Rayner

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

KYLE RAYNER

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED (MATTEL)

When Green Lantern first appeared in the DC Animated Universe in Superman: The Animated Series, the producers opted to use the then-current holder of the title, Kyle Rayner, as their introductory Lantern.  Kyle gained a good portion of Hal Jordan’s origin, being the first Earth Lantern, having gotten the ring directly from Abin Sur, but he still retained Kyle’s personality and background as an artist.  When *a* Green Lantern reappeared in Justice League, it was not Kyle, but rather John Stewart, who was chosen not only to add a little more diversity to the titular team, but also to give the show a slightly less defined Lantern to work with for some of the show’s character arcs.  Rayner still existed within the narrative however, and was granted a couple of additional cameos, as well as a small speaking role in Justice League Unlimited‘s “The Return.”  It was this appearance that finally got animated Kyle some action figure treatment.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Kyle Rayner was initially released in 2006 during the second iteration of Mattel’s Justice League Unlimited tie-in line, under the orange packaging style, in a pack that also included fellow GLs Katma Tui and Arkkis Chummuck.  He was then re-released as a single the following year, and once more in a convention-exclusive pack with Evil Star and Goldface.  As noted in the intro, Kyle is based on his design from “The Return,” which was itself an adaptation of Kyle’s Jim Lee-designed costume update from the early ’00s.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He’s based on the medium-sized male base body.  Rather fittingly, it started as a GL body, and it remains so here.  Kyle’s original build was a bit smaller, but by the time of “The Return,” he’d bulked up a bit, so it makes sense.  Kyle got a new head sculpt for this release, and it’s honestly a pretty good one.  We don’t see a ton of Kyle in the show, but this matches up pretty nicely with what we do see, while still being rather unique.  It’s sharp, clean, and pretty on point for the character.  Kyle’s paint work does most of the heavy lifting, as with most of these figures.  It does it well; his outfit’s detailing is pretty spot on.  The green’s a little prone to chipping, but not as bad as some figures from the line.  The head paint is alright, though a bit washed out; the brown for the hair feels a little light, as does the skin tone.  But, it still works well enough overall.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

“In Brightest Day” is far and away my favorite entry in the DCAU.  I was such a huge GL fan as a kid, and I excited recorded the episode on VHS when it aired back in the day.  The lack of a GL in the tie-in line always bummed me out.  When Kyle was replaced with John in JL, I obviously adjusted, and I was happy to get plenty of cool figures for John.  That said, I still hoped for Kyle.  Admittedly, this wasn’t the look I initially had in mind, and to this day, I still would love to get a STAS version of the character, but I do still really love this guy, too.  He honestly holds up pretty well.

#3376: Classic Iron Man, Bolt Face Iron Man, & AIM Soldier

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

CLASSIC IRON MAN, BOLT FACE IRON MAN, & AIM SOLDIER

MARVEL MINIMATES

2008 into 2009 was quite a resurgence for Iron Man, due to that whole, you know, really successful movie thing he had going for him.  In the world of Marvel Minimates, it meant that he went from a character with one release every now and then to a character that could very seriously be banked upon.  In the space of about a year, his number of Minimates tripled, and we even got some looping back for proper updates to older releases.  He wound up as an anchor figure for the line’s 25th series, which saw him get two different figures, each packed with an AIM Soldier.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Classic Iron Man and the AIM Soldier were released in the 25th specialty series of Marvel Minimates, with Bolt Face Iron Man swapping out for Classic Iron Man in the one-per-case Variant set.  Classic Iron Man and the AIM soldier would both also see release in the third TRU-exclusive series, albeit split up and packed with other figures (Mark I War Machine for Classic IM and Bucky Cap for the AIM Soldier).  Series 25 hit in May of 2009, and TRU Series 3 hit the following month.

CLASSIC IRON MAN

“Continually improving his Iron Man armor designs, the brilliant Tony Stark’s early red and gold armor set the standard for years to come by combining lightweight and maneuverable armor with new Repulsor technology!”

Iron Man had debuted with his classic armor in Series 6, but it had been a couple of years since that at this point, and there hadn’t been a proper update to the design since.  With all of the new attention, DST opted to do an all-new one, based again on his ’70s-’80s armor.  The figure is built on the standard post-C3 ‘mate body, so he’s about 2 1/2 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  Classic Iron Man got a rather astounding 9 add-on pieces for this release, which included the helmet, belt, collar, shoulder, arm, and leg cuffs.  All of the pieces were new for this release, and represented DST moving to a generally more sculpted approach to even classically-based designs, although it also showed more of a melding between purely sculpted and printed detailing, as well as a general slimming down of certain figures.  The gloves and boots get cuffs without the need of full hand and feet pieces, and the shoulders get their add-ons without needing to bulk up the whole torso.  It was honestly a pretty big change-up.  The shoulders in particular are a little frustrating, since they had trouble staying properly in place, but they do look good when properly set.  Iron Man’s paint work is pretty involve, with a lot of detail line work on just about all of the surfaces.  While the prior Classic Iron Man had used flat colors, this one used metallic red and gold.  The gold’s a little on the orange side, which kind of muddies the look just a bit.  On the plus side, it’s held up better long term than other gold paints, so it at least doesn’t look awful.  I was never much of a fan of the face plate on the helmet for this guy, though; something about the spacing of the eyes, coupled with the actual eyes being visible, just doesn’t work for me.  It was a pretty common complaint at the time of release, and DST changed it up for later releases of the designs, so they seemed to agree.  Under the helmet, there’s a slightly more intense facial expression for Tony, which was honestly a pretty decent look.  Classic Iron Man was packed with an alternate hair piece (re-used from 24‘s Tony Almeida) and an alternate left repulsor hand.

BOLT FACE IRON MAN

“Similar to his previous armor designs, this improved model featured modular components such as the Black Light Tracer, Reverser Ray, Miniature Generator and even a Proximity Alarm designed to mimic Spider-Man’s Spider Sense!”

We couldn’t just have one Iron Man, so we got two instead.  This one goes for a just prior to classic look, ever so affectionately dubbed “Bolt Face” due to the rivets on the faceplate.  We’d sort of gotten this armor before in its horn-masked iteration, but this was the first proper “Bolt Face.”  Structurally, he’s largely the same as the standard version, though he ditches the shoulder add-ons and gets the Series 6 belt, which gives him a slightly older school look.  His paint scheme is also pretty similar, with the shades all being the same, but the actual detail lines being changed up.  They’re really nice, not as over detailed as Classic, and just a very nice recreation of his comics look for this one.  This time around, the helmet gets blacked out eyes, and the spacing just generally looks a bit better.  The face under the helmet is a lot calmer than the standard, and is again a very ’60s looking Tony, which I really like.  Bolt Face IM got an alternate hair piece (re-used from Jack Bauer), and a repulsor hand, just like he Classic.  He also got a spare helmet, which represents the short-lived nosed faceplate, as well as the shoulder pieces, so that you could turn him into a slightly later stage Iron Man.  Technically, the pieces don’t really match the rest of the detailing on the armor, and would be more at home on the standard Iron Man.  And, actually, swapping the nosed helmet to the Classic Iron Man fixes my only real issue with that figure, and lets me leave this one in all its Bolt-Faced glory.

AIM SOLDIER

“Capable of both saving the world and destroying it, Advanced Idea Mechanics is a powerful terrorist group consisting of brilliant yet misguided scientists determined to invent more and more destructive weapons.”

The AIM Soldier marked an important change for Marvel Minimates: Army Builders!  Up to this point, you were forced to buy a duplicate of the figure packed with the Variant, and it was at this point that DST officially decided to try to make lemonade out of those lemons, and make the duped figure one that people might not mind having a dupe of.  The first offering in the army building venture was those crazy beekeeper guys themselves, who are honestly a pretty natural choice.  The AIM Soldier had two add-on pieces, one for the mask and one for the holster.  The mask was an all-new piece, and a pretty spot-on one for their classic comics look.  The holster was a re-use from Assault Punisher, and it’s a little bulky, but it’s also very easily removed if it’s not your thing.  The paint work does a quite nice job of capturing the usual AIM design; there’s plenty of line work on the suits, bot front and back, and the belts even continue all the way around the waist.  Under the mask, there’s a fully detailed face with ears and a pair of lenses.  The AIM Soldier included a standard pistol (re-used again from Assault Punisher), and a larger rotary gun, which is a slight reworking of one of of War Machine’s cannons.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When this series and the Series 28 (which was originally Series 26, before it got bumped for the Origins tie-in assortment) line-ups were revealed, DST ran a contest to guess the line-ups based on daily clues.  I was actually quite good at it, and wound up winning a fair bit of free stuff because of it.  Interestingly, Iron Man and his variant were the two that stumped me, but I did get the AIM Soldier.  In general, the whole thing made me very pumped for both assortments, which, as per usual for the time, I got via Cosmic Comix.  Classic Iron Man wasn’t my go-to at the time of release, nor has he really stuck with me.  The variant, on the other hand, remains one of my favorite Iron Man variants.  Likewise, the AIM Soldier’s top two for army builders for me.

#3375: Elongated Man

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

ELONGATED MAN

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED (MATTEL)

While I’ve up to this point only really mentioned him in passing here on the site, Ralph Dibney, aka the Elongated Man, is one of my favorite comic book characters, and certainly my favorite DC character. Though he’s been rattling around the DC universe since 1960, he spent his first 44 years strangely absent from other mediums, always playing second fiddle to Plastic Man. His lick finally changed in 2004, with first a DC Direct figure, and then a figure to correspond with his first animated appearance in Justice League Unlimited. I’m taking a look at the latter of those today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Elongated Man was released in the first assortment of Justice League Unlimited three-packs in 2004.  He was packed in a set which was supposedly based on “The Greatest Story Never Told.”  Given that the episode in question is honestly one of Elongated Man’s largest roles on the show, it made some degree of sense.  Of course, the fact that the set packed him with Batman and Hawkgirl (who, it should be noted, was not only not wearing her Thanagarian costume in JLU, but had also not yet returned after leaving in “Starcrossed”), and did *not* feature Booster Gold, who was, you know, the main character in the episode.  I mean, sure, I’m thrilled about the inclusion of Elongated Man and all, but still.  Elongated Man was also released single-careded, in both the orange and purple card styles, in 2006 and 2007.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  He’s built on the skinny male body (which was a tweaked Flash sculpt), which very definitely fits with the character’s depiction on the show.  He got a new head sculpt.  It’s an alright offering; not quite as spot-on as some of the others in the line, but certainly not bad.  The decision to go with the full grin doesn’t work out quite as well as they’d hoped, I feel; he didn’t really show his teeth much on the show, so it throws the likeness off just a little bit.  But, like I said, hardly a bad sculpt at all, and certainly one that made him unique from the other figures in the line.  The figure’s paint work followed the show’s lead, putting Ralph in his ’80s era purple and white costume.  It translates fairly well, and the application’s generally pretty clean.  It hasn’t held up the best on my copy, who has some chipping and wear, but that could just be a me thing.  The original three-pack release of Ralph had no accessories, but the two single releases added a weird grapple thing to clip onto his wrist.  It’s an odd piece.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The three-pack that Ralph was included in was one of the trickier ones to acquire early in the line’s run, and I don’t recall seeing one at retail during the original run.  I also missed out on his single releases.  Instead, I got my Elongated Man figure loose, in fact as one of my earliest purchases from All Time Toys way back in the day.  I recall being quite excited to find him, especially since it meant I didn’t get saddled with extras of the other two figures in the pack.  He’s not a perfect figure, but he *is* an Elongated Man figure, so that gives him quite a leg up in my book!