Tag Archives: 00s

#3356: Cad Bane

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

CAD BAND

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“Cad Bane is hired by Darth Sidious to break into the Jedi Temple and steal a holocron containing the secret names of future Jedi. The resourceful and cunning bounty hunter carefully puts his plan in place using schematics of the temple, a techno-service droid and an unscrupulous shapeshifter.”

Cad Bane was introduced at the end of Clone Wars‘ first season, following in the tradition of every post-Empire entry in the franchise trying to create the next Boba Fett. In his defense, he’s probably the closest the franchise actually got to that mark, by virtue of just aiming more to be his own thing from the start, thereby making him feel a little less artificial.  The same year that Cad Bane debuted on Clone Wars, he also got his very first action figure via the tie-in toyline, and I’m taking a look at that one today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cad Bane was released in the fourth wave of the 2009 re-launch of Hasbro’s Clone Wars line, where he was figure CW22.  He was released alongside Clone Trooper Denal (who Bane notably impersonates after killing him in “Cargo of Doom”), as well as space versions of Anakin and Ahsoka.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation.  Bane’s articulation is lesser compared to the best in the line, lacking any movement below the hips, as well as having rather restricted motion on the elbows.  Also, due to the construction of his elbow joints, his arms have a tendency to fall apart in the middle a lot.  All of this makes him a figure that’s just really not great for posing.  He’s really just built for standing there.  Given how much Bane does in the show, it’s kind of a shame.  There were later versions with better articulation, but this one still wound up with the most releases by far, so the mold was just really persistent.  The actual sculpt is at least pretty decent.  Not a spot on recreation of the animation model, but pretty close, and about on par with the best of the earlier run sculpts, at least in terms of accuracy.  His paint work is respectable; the colors match with his show design closely enough, and the blue skin gives him a nice and unique look.  Cad was packed with a removable hat (which started the trend of Cad Banes with hats that are hard to keep in place), his two twin blaster pistols, and a larger blaster rifle (missing from mine).

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Cad Bane while he was relatively new, but certainly not *brand* new.  It was probably in the spring of 2010, which is when I got a lot of my Clone Wars figures, since I suddenly had money and the means to drive myself places.  It really increased my toy buying options, I tell ya.  The figure’s honestly never been one of my favorites.  Like, he’s not bad, but he’s not really great either.  There were better versions, but they’re unfortunately a lot harder to get, which is a shame.

#3351: Commando Droid

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

COMMANDO DROID

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS (HASBRO)

“Commando droids land on the Rishi moon to attack a Republic outpost. Designed for surprise assaults, the droids quickly overwhelm the new clone trooper recruits stationed there. With this strategic outpost now in Separatist hands, General Grievous has everything in position to launch a surprise attack anywhere in the Outer Rim.”

Each of the Star Wars prequels added one specialized droid in addition to the standard Battle Droid, presumably to somewhat offset the general ineffectiveness of the standards.  The trend continued past the movies, with Clone Wars adding a few of its own Droids.  Most of them were situation-specific, but my personal favorite was the Commando Droid.  Introduced early in Season 1 in the episode “Rookies,” the Commandos were honestly just a more intimidating equivalent to the rank and file Battle Droids, who would become a common place feature whenever the show needed the droid threat to be genuinely threatening.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Commando Droid is figure CW16, and was released in the third assortment of the second generation of Hasbro’s Clone Wars line, which hit in 2009.  Up to this point, the line had roughly one Droid army builder per series, and the Commando Droid took that spot in this line-up.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and has 21 points of articulation.  Up to this point in the line, most of the droids wound up with lackluster articulation, but the Assassin Droid had changed that, and this guy followed suit.  He’s the best articulated of the Droids the line put out, effectively on the same level as the upgraded Clone body used for the ARF Trooper.  And, with the ball-joint construction on the hips, you can even swap the legs and flip the mid-section around, to do the hunch that the Commandos frequently sported on the show.  This guy got an all-new mold, which Hasbro would re-use a few more times for other Commando Droid re-decos.  It’s a really good sculpt.  It’s accurate to the animation models, while also keeping the articulation useful and still worked into the sculpt.  He’s one of the few instances of a droid actually getting movement at all of the notable joints in the actual design, so there weren’t any of the phantom joints that the main Battle Droid mold got.  The figure’s paint work is decent enough; nothing crazy or anything.  The bulk of it’s a molded gunmetal grey, with some slight accent work in gold, as well as his eyes and the insignia on his torso.  Application is all pretty clean, so that all works out rather nicely.  The Commando Droid was originally packed with a single droid style blaster, though somewhere along the way, mine seems to have picked up a second blaster somewhere along the way.  That’s definitely not standard.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Commando Droid is one of those figures that I wanted before it actually existed.  When they showed up in “Rookies”, I was immediately a fan of the design and eager to see it in figure form.  This is definitely one I actively hunted for.  If I recall correctly, he got added to my collection during a sizable run of Clone Wars purchases in early 2010, when my parents were out of town for a week, and I had regular access to a car and some money to spend.  He’s definitely one of my favorites from the line, and he holds up astoundingly well.  I’d love to see him updated to Black Series one of these days.

#3345: Dr. Fate

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

DR. FATE

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED (MATTEL)

Justice League Unlimited‘s expanded roster brought with it a mix of characters, some all-new, and some with prior DCAU appearances.  Dr. Fate had shown up a few times before, with a guest appearance on Superman: The Animated Series during the show’s second season, as well as on JLU‘s precursor Justice League, as part of the Defenders homage team in “The Terror Beyond.”  The character had only a few rather brief appearances during JLU‘s run, but it didn’t really take much to justify giving someone an action figure with that show.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Dr. Fate was part of Mattel’s launch line-up for their JLU tie-in line in 2004.  He was in a three-pack alongside Green Arrow and The Flash, in a pack specifically referencing the episode “Initiation.”  Fate’s not really much of a player in that episode, but neither is Flash, so the whole thing winds up a bit odd.  It was honestly a rather frequent occurrence in the early multi-packs for the line.  Fate wound up getting re-packed a good number of times, as a single in 2005, alongside Vixen and Hawkgirl in 2006, alongside Starman and Flash in 2007, and solo once more in 2009.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Fate was built on the skinny male base body, which was patterned on the original Flash figure.  It generally fits pretty well with Fate’s depiction on the show.  He gets a new head, cape, and arms to fully sell the look.  The head’s a pretty spot-on piece, as is the cape.  The arms add his gloves, and they’re not bad, but they are a touch too long for the base body, giving him something of a monkey arms set-up.  Dr. Fate’s paint work is okay in application, but not so great in accuracy.  His colors are definitely too bright for the animated Fate, and his neck and boots both wind up being done in yellow, instead of blue like they should be for proper accuracy.  The application was at least decent, and the slightly metallic finish for the yellow parts is at least a little more visual pop.  It’s worth noting that the 2009 release actually corrected the layout of the colors, though not the actual shades of them.  For his three-pack releases, Fate got no accessories, but his single releases both got a magic effect for him to hold.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I took a while to get the Dr. Fate figure from this line.  I don’t really know why, honestly.  It’s not like I dislike the character or anything.  In fact, I generally like him, and his animation design as a whole.  For whatever reason, I wound up waiting until his first solo release, which I more than likely got with a gift card after the holidays.  He’s got some issues with accuracy, and those monkey arms are a bit much, but he’s still a pretty fun figure, all things considered.

#3342: Sky B.A.T.

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

SKY B.A.T.

G.I. JOE: SIGMA 6 (HASBRO)

“COBRA Sky B.A.T. troops convert to different modes for multiple attack capabilities. Smart technology gives them the ability to automatically make the conversions themselves. Vertical Assault Packs attach to their backs and interface with their central processors to achieve complex aerial maneuvers. Armed with concussion bombs stored on their wings, they can launch devastating attacks from the air. In ground assault mode, their arms convert to powerful grenade launchers. With the addition of ionic gas canisters, they can enhance their strength and move at accelerated speed. To combat this robotic force, the Sigma 6 team has developed specialized weapons designed to disable computerized systems.”

I don’t discuss Sigma 6 enough here on the site.  In fact, I think most websites don’t discuss Sigma 6 enough.  Most people don’t discuss Sigma 6 enough.  It’s just a whole thing, honestly.  Whatever the case, the line was genuinely a delight, and an inventive refresh to the franchise.  I kind of miss it, in some ways.  In my brief rundown of the line, I’ve thus far only focused on the Joes side of things, but today, I’m moving over to the Cobra side.  In order to keep things a bit more Saturday morning friendly, the majority of the Cobra forces for the Sigma 6 reboot were variants of the B.A.T., and today, I’m taking a look at the Sky B.A.T.!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Sky B.A.T. was part of the first Soldier wave of the 2006 Sigma 6 line-up, which was the second Soldier wave overall, after the line’s end of 2005 debut.  This assortment was a pretty small one, since it was really more of a revision, so it was just the Sky B.A.T. and a variant of Storm Shadow.  This was the second B.A.T. in the line, following the Ninja B.A.T. in the 2005 Solider wave.  Though titled as a Sky B.A.T. officially, this figure was designed to served not only as a Sky B.A.T., but also as a standard issue B.A.T. as seen in the tie-in cartoon.  The figure stands about 8 inches tall and he has 25 points of articulation.  While the Joes were largely built around very similar structures and the more uniform Sigma suit design, the Cobra offerings were a bit different, and that’s especially evident with the Sky B.A.T.  His articulation layout is pretty similar to the Joes, though the shoulders and mid-torso are a little more unique here.  While the sculpts for this line generally went just a touch more realistic than the show designs (though still quite stylized), the Sky B.A.T. is one of the figures that stuck the closest to the animation models.  It translated really well, and made for a particularly cool looking toy.  The only real downside to this figure is the the arm canisters.  They’re articulated, and they’re cool in theory, but the plastic used of them is unfortunately prone to becoming very brittle over time, making them likely to shatter at the joints…as happened with one of mine.  They can at the very least be removed (carefully, of course), so if one breaks, you’re at least not stuck with an imbalanced figure.  The Sky B.A.T.’s color scheme is pretty classic Cobra fare, with lots of blues and reds.  It generally works well, although it’s another victim of time not being the kindest, since the torso yellows a little bit faster than the other blue plastic.  Thankfully, it’s pretty minor, and the overall appearance is still pretty consistent.  The Sky B.A.T. is packed with a pretty impressive wing pack, complete with articulated wings, and four removable missiles.  He also includes a rifle, which is a fun piece, which has a launching missile on the lower section.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I always wanted one of these when they were new, but I wasn’t ever able to track one down at retail.  I had a particularly good run of finding Sigma 6 figures back in 2018, and this guy was part of it, picked up from the New Jersey-based House of Fun, along with a few others.  He’s really one of the line’s star pieces, and I’m glad I was able to finally get one.  It’s a cool robot.  It’s a cool G.I. Joe toy.  It’s just a cool action figure.  Small issues with longevity of the figure aside, he’s a total win.

#3340: Nemesis

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

NEMESIS

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED (MATTEL)

Beginning as the star of a back-up feature running in Brave and the Bold (which was then serving as DC’s equivalent to Marvel’s Marvel Team-Up), Thomas Tresser aka Nemesis has never been a particularly high profile DC character, but he’s had a few notable moments over the years.  He’s certainly a different sort of character, especially for his era, being more of an espionage type of character who nevertheless still regularly interacts with the main DC heroes.  He’s kind of like a Black Widow type almost.  In this day and age of media, it’s honestly downright baffling that his only appearance outside of the comics is as a couple of cameos in Justice League Unlimited.  He did at least get a toy out of it, though.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Nemesis was released in 2007, under the third iteration of Mattel’s Justice League Unlimited line.  He was in the fifth series following the line’s move to the purple “DC Universe” branded packaging, and was available only in a three-pack alongside Lightray and a winged variant of Amazo.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Nemesis was built on the medium male body, which was reworked from the basic Green Lantern.  It’s a good, balanced build, and was very definitely the line’s best base body.  He got the new fancy-booted legs from the prior year’s Lex Luthor, as well as that figure’s shoulder harness add-on.  Those pieces, coupled with a brand-new head sculpt, made for a really solid recreation of Nemesis’s design as seen on the show.  The head sculpt is honestly one of the line’s best, and is just a great recreation of Nemesis not only from the show, but from the comics as well.  The paint work on this guy is very basic.  Largely, he’s just molded in black.  There’s a little bit of painted add-on work, and it does what needs to, and does it pretty well.  Nemesis was *technically* not packed with any accessories, but he’s a master of disguise and the other two figures in the pack were both built on the same base body, so maybe they’re just disguises?  Yeah, let’s spin it that way.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My knowledge of Nemesis really came from his stint as a supporting player in Wonder Woman.  I really dug the character there, and liked how they worked him into the overall story, fitting him loosely into that Steve Trevor role.  Beyond that, I’ve always thought he had a pretty cool look.  JLU was still very hard to find at retail when this set hit, but Cosmic Comix happened to get one in back when they were still relatively new, and I was enough of a fan of all the figures included to pick it up.  Nemesis is a great example of the line’s parts re-use really working well to give us characters we wouldn’t otherwise get.

#3324: Boromir

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

BOROMIR

LORD OF THE RINGS: FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (TOY BIZ)

“Boromir, a valiant warrior and eldest son of Denethor, the Steward of Gondor, joins the Fellowship to protect Frodo. However, his false beliefs about the power of the One Ring ignites a growing fascination and a desire to possess it.”

I don’t talk much about Lord of the Rings here on the site.  It’s not that I don’t enjoy the franchise, though I’ll admit I really only stick to the first three movies, it’s just that’s a rather daunting thing, and I tend to stick to the fringes of it all.  As with anything, I’ve got my favorite characters in the mix, of course.  Of all the heroes, my absolute favorite is certainly Faramir, who’s something of an unsung hero in the whole thing, but I’m also quite a fan of Faramir’s ill-fated older brother, Boromir, thanks in no small part to Sean Bean’s incredibly memorable performance in the role.  Back when the movies where being released, Toy Biz had the license for the figures, and put out a quite expansive line of figures, which rather unsurprisingly included a couple of versions of Boromir.  I’m taking a look at the first of those today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Boromir was initially released alongside Lurtz in a two-pack from Toy Biz’s Fellowship of the Ring tie-in line in 2001, and was later released solo in the wider Trilogy line following the wrap up of the Return of the King tie-ins.  The figure stands a little over 6 inches tall and he has 4 points of articulation.  The Fellowship figures weren’t as posable as the later figures would be, so Boromir’s definitely a little restricted on the posability front.  He’s a little bit pre-posed, with his arms sort of jutting out, and his legs being kind of splayed.  Also, due to how the movement works, neither of his elbows is actually pointing forward, which is kind of awkward.  He does at least have a decent enough action pose about him.  Boromir’s sculpt was unique to this figure, and is fairly on par with the rest of the Fellowship figures.  He’s got a respectable enough likeness of Sean Bean on the face, and the detailing on the outfit’s pretty nice, especially the mail shirt under all of his other garb.  The figure’s proportions are definitely a bit on the chunky side, which isn’t too crazy, but it’s definitely a bit more of a stylistic choice.  It’s a more balanced set-up than other figures in the line, though, so it’s at least not dealing so much with the monkey arms that showed up a lot in the earlier figures.  Boromir’s paint work is generally more on the basic side, with mostly straight forward color work.  Some of the paint’s a little on the thick side, but the application’s pretty clean and consistent.  The grey trim on the tabard is the one exception, as it’s a little bit all over the place.  Other than that, he’s okay, and there’s even some pretty decent accenting on the hair and the chain mail.  Boromir is packed with his horn of Gondor, his sword, his shield, and his cloak.  The horn fits well in his left hand, and can hand from his belt.  The sword seems a little small and is rather bent, but it can at least be sheathed.  The shield’s actually quite a nice piece, with impressive texturing, and a strap for wearing over his shoulder.  The cloak’s a little tricky, as it doesn’t really stay firmly in place, and it also can’t be used when the shield is slung.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since I picked up Faramir back in 2016, I’ve been casually on the lookout for a Boromir.  Back towards the end of 2021, a bunch of Lord of the Rings figures came through All Time.  They were largely incomplete and kind of a mess, but there just so happened to be a complete Boromir in the mix, and he was honestly pretty cheap at that moment, so, boom, your boy had a Boromir.  He’s a bit dated, but still a lot of fun.  And now I’ve got the two brothers!

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.

#3206: Mekaneck

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

MEKANECK

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (MATTEL)

Well, would you look at that, I’ve officially been running this old site of mine for nine whole years.  What a time it’s been.  As I always like to do on these anniversaries, I’m opting to make today’s review just a little bit more special.  I’m focusing on a line that’s as of yet not gotten to be in the spotlight here, Masters of the Universe.  While my ties to MotU don’t go hardcore or anything, I did have something of an attachment to the franchise’s 2002 re-launch, which was what introduced the whole thing to me, back when I was just 10 years old.  Since early into my exposure to the franchise, I’ve had a particular attachment to the heroic warrior Mekaneck.  So, let’s look at a Mekaneck, shall we?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mekaneck was part of the second assortment of the 200x Masters of the Universe, alongside a He-Man variant and a bunch of re-packs.  The figure stands a little over 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation.  While the original Mekaneck design was meant to re-use a good bulk of the standard male body, his 200x design was decidedly quite removed from the core look.  As such, this guy wasn’t designed with other characters in mind, so his mold was totally unique to him.  It’s a pretty great offering, courtesy of the Four Horsemen.  The updated version of the design added a lot more tech details, especially to the underlying body, but also to his armor, which was a bit more basic on his original figure.  All of the classic elements are still present, and it’s very clear who he’s supposed to be.  His distinctive chest armor, originally a piece he shared with Stinkor, was affixed permanently to the torso here, and again given a far more in depth selection of detailing.  He’s got the same neck extending feature from his vintage counterpart; twisting his waist extends his neck about an inch or so.  About the only down side to this figure’s sculpt is to do with his secondary action feature, which is gives you the ability to “see” through his head, which is done via a gaping hole in the back of his head.  It’s certainly an odd choice to be sure, since it offers minimal play value, but also results in a really obvious hole in his head.  Beyond that, though, the sculpt’s great.  The figure’s paint work is generally pretty great.  There were two versions of the paint, with the one seen here being the standard release, which technically has green goggles.  I say “technically” because the translucent plastic barely shows any deviations in the colors, so it can be hard to tell.  Mekaneck is packed with his usual distinctive mace, which he can hold in his left hand.  His arm has even been given a spring-loaded swinging feature in the elbow, which isn’t terribly impressive, but it’s alright.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The 200x incarnation’s accompanying cartoon debuted with a pilot movie, aired during Cartoon Network’s Cartoon Theatre.  I remember excitedly sitting down and watching it when it aired.  In addition to running out to get a He-Man the next day, I was also quite intrigued by Mekaneck, even with his brief appearance in the film.  His prototype had already been shown off by then, so I knew I wanted him pretty much from the start.  He was quite a rare figure at the time, but I actually had a stroke of luck on this particular release.  When I was a kid, my grandmother and I made it a ritual to visit the KB Toys at the local mall, on an almost weekly basis.  In 2003, she and my dad had located the KB Toys liquidation outlet, which was just a few hours drive from where we lived.  They planned a day trip out, and I wound up getting a whole boatload of stuff, largely older Toy Biz Marvel.  However, amongst the piles of figures that were almost a decade old by that point, I found one lone Masters figure, thrown on a random shelf, and, as luck would have it, it was Mekaneck.  Quite a thrilling find on a day of thrilling finds, really.  He’s a goofy figure, but he’s Mekaneck; he’s supposed to be goofy.  That’s what’s great about him, and that’s what’s great about this figure.

#3131: Captain America

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

CAPTAIN AMERICA

MARVEL LEGENDS (TOY BIZ)

I gave today’s intro a fair bit of thought.  Usually, I like to keep things fairly light and apolitical here on the site, what with it being about toys and all, but I would be lying if I said that wasn’t becoming a harder thing to do these days.  My aim isn’t to offend, or hurt, or throw mud, or anything like that, but even from an apolitical stand-point, there wind up being some lines that get crossed, and it gets pretty hard not to say anything about it.  So, I’m gonna keep being me, and I’m gonna say what I say, and continue to just try to be my best self.  Today is July 4th, a day that’s typically dedicated to celebrating all the great things about America.  For me, on the site at least, that means I get to review another Captain America figure, because that’s how I roll.  This year, things are very much muddied by current events, leaving a lot of people not feeling quite so hot about America, and perhaps a little less proud to be part of this whole venture.  I can definitely feel that, and I think we’ve all got some work we can do to get to a better place together.  I think we can all work towards being our own best selves.  And if you think my best self isn’t going to take the opportunity, in a time of uncertainty, fear, and worry, to review a figure of Steve Rogers, a symbol of hope for all the things that America should be to all the people that call it home, then you’re definitely not one of my regular readers.  When you need some inspiration, a Captain America’s not a bad place to start, right?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain America was released as part of Toy Biz’s “Face Off” spin-off of Marvel Legends, which gave us new versions of the core heroes, facing off against their antagonists.  For his part, Cap was packed alongside Red Skull.  There was also a variant unmasked Cap, which was instead packed with Baron Strucker.  Look, he’s fighting a Nazi either way, right?  This was Toy Biz’s fourth and final version of Cap in their run with Legends, following the original Series 1, the Ultimate, and its more classically-inspired variant.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 46 points of articulation.  That hefty articulation count is aided by the addition of separately articulated fingers, something Toy Biz was giving a try later in their run.  They wound up as one of the very first things cut by Hasbro, and, honestly, it’s not a huge shock.  They’re really not much more than a novelty, and they mean he can’t really grip or anything.  It’s the sort of thing that alternate hands are just a far more efficient way of doing finger poses.  Other than that, the articulation is pretty decent from a range of motion standpoint, though perhaps not so much from the appearance angle.  They definitely aren’t super worked into the sculpt’s aesthetics.  Said sculpt was a mix of old and new.  He used the Ultimate Cap as a starting point, with the addition of a more classically-based set of gloves and boots, as well as slightly tweaked versions of the upper torso and head.  This whole sculpt wound up getting up-scaled for Toy Biz’s Marvel Legends Icons line, and it was honestly pretty good for the time.  It’s perhaps not aged quite so well, what with its wonky proportions and the slightly odd shaping of the face.  That said, the texture work, especially on the scaling, is really amazing work, and if nothing else, he’s certainly got a nice style to him.  At the time of release, he was probably one of Toy Biz’s best.  Cap’s paint work is decent enough.  Toy Biz was still tending to go pretty muddy with the colors at this point, but this guy actually gets a fairly bold and clean color scheme.  It works pretty well for the character, and, again, it’s really some of the line’s best work.  Cap is packed with his shield, which is the same as his Series 1 counterpart’s, complete with the cloth straps for placing over his shoulders.  This time, it’s better painted, and I particularly like the black interior; it definitely adds a lot more pop.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Back when this figure was released, I decided to stick with my Series 1 version, rather than trying to upgrade.  Given how difficult it was to get these packs, or really Legends in general, it wasn’t hard to justify.  I always kind of wanted one, but I never got the chance to grab him over the years.  Fortunately for me, he came into to All Time a couple of months ago.  He’s certainly a figure that shows his age, but I still really enjoy him for what he is.

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

#3110: Superman

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

SUPERMAN

SUPERMAN/BATMAN: PUBLIC ENEMIES (DC DIRECT)

In the early 2000s, DC revitalized their World’s Finest book, a series that chronicled Superman and Batman’s joint exploits (well, mostly; it didn’t start that way), under the more minimalistic title of Superman/Batman.  The series launched with “Public Enemies,” a story line that saw Superman and Batman labeled enemies of the state by a soon-to-be-deposed President Lex Luthor.  It’s far from high art or anything, but it’s a fairly fun story.  At the time, DC Direct did a line of figures to tie-in, based on Ed McGuinness’s art from the book.  Today, I’ll be taking a look at the line’s take on Superman.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Superman was released in the first series of DCD’s Superman/Batman line, which was entirely “Public Enemies”-themed.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation.  These figures were far from super-poseable, with little more than enough movement to tweak the basic standing pose.  You can get maybe a slight take-off pose out of him, but even that’s pushing it.  He can at least get his arms closer to his sides than Batman could, but even so, it’s pretty limited.  Superman had an all-new sculpt, based on McGuinness’s art; it certainly shares a number of elements with the other figures, since they all had rather similar builds.  It’s at the very least a pretty solid recreation of the art in three dimensions.  In particular, they’ve really gotten McGuinness’s Superman’s head down pretty spot-on.  I do really love how that sculpt looks.  The cape seems perhaps a touch short, but I do like the dynamic flow to it; it helps to break up that basic standing pose just a little bit.  Superman’s paint work is actually quite nice.  I’ve always really enjoyed the metallic blue they chose for this first release; it just really pops so nicely, especially next to the matte finish on the flesh tones.  I’m not entirely in favor of the lack of actual eyes, but it’s a stylistic choice, I suppose.  It does sort of have a twinge of nostalgia for me, since it makes me think of the early Kenner STAS figures, so I guess it’s not entirely bad.  I do quite like the blue accenting in the hair, so that works out.  Superman is packed with a Superman/Batman display stand.  It’s just a stand, but it does what it needs to, I suppose.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was in middle school when these were released, so I was on a much smaller budget.  That meant I only had the money for one figure from this set, and it wound up being Captain Atom, since I didn’t already have a bunch of him laying around.  I always wanted to grab this guy at some point, but I just never got around to getting one.  Last year, I was helping a family friend downsize their collection, and they gave me this guy in return for my help, which was honestly very nice.  He’s a very specific type of figure, and you have to want that very specific type of figure.  That said, I really like that very specific type of figure, and you’d be hard pressed to find a better adaptation of Ed McGuinness’s art, so he very definitely works for me.

#3094: Snake Eyes with Ninja Armor

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

SNAKE EYES with NINJA ARMOR

G.I. JOE: SIGMA 6 (HASBRO)

“Snake Eyes uses customized weapons to give him a powerful advantage over Cobra ninjas.  Whether riding his Ninja Hovercycle or battling enemies in hand-to-hand combat, Snake Eyes defeats his opponents with agility and the element of surprise.  During a mission to recover technological data stolen by Cobra, Snake Eyes had to get in and out within 90 seconds then escape from Storm Shadow and his team of ninjas.  He and StormShadow battled each other at high speed on their cycles.  Just when his enemies thought they had him, Snake Eyes suddenly deployed air-brake wings hidden in his backpack, leaped from his bike and knocked them all from their cycles with his tri-blade sword.  He was back on his bike and gone before they knew what hit them.”

I’ve touched only very briefly on Sigma 6, the early ’00s incarnation of the G.I. Joe franchise, here on the site.  And you know what?  That’s just not right.  Because Sigma 6 is pretty awesome.  And more people should appreciate it.  At its outset, Sigma 6 took more of a focus on a core cast of characters, though that expanded a fair bit as the line progressed.  I’ve focused a lot on the expanded roster, but not yet any time with that core team.  So, hey, let’s look at a Snake Eyes.  That’s always pretty fun.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Snake Eyes with Ninja Armor was released as part of the first Commando wave of the 2006 Sigma 6 line-up.  In an assortment that saw figure debuts for both Cobra Commander and Long Range, Snake Eyes was the one variant.  He was technically Snake Eyes’ second variant for the line, following up on the weird two-pack re-deco.  This one was actually different, what with the Ninja Armor and all.  The figure stands 8 inches tall and he has 25 points of articulation.  In terms of structure, this figure’s core figure is the same as the prior Commando release Snake Eyes.  The base Snake Eyes sculpt was definitely one of the most stylized of the original figures for the line, being quite spindly and lanky.  His masked head actually has eye holes, giving us a rare glimpse at a portion of his face.  It’s a really cool touch, and I really dig the little bit of scarring visible under the eyes.  Snake Eyes has the standard Sigma 6 suit under everything, much like the rest of the team, which gives the sculpt an opportunity to showcase a larger variety of detailing, including the little flip-up console on the arm, which remains one of my favorite features on these guys.  To fully ninja armor up this guy, he gets a removable visor, chest armor, shoulder pads, and shin guards, as well as the standard dog tag.  The visor is a much more armored piece, fully wrapping around the head, and also further down the sides of the face.  It’s more patterned after his V2 visor than the standard version had been, which I really quite like.  It really pushes that classic Snake Eyes vibe.  The body armor is decidedly not as Snake Eyes-y, but its a cool armor design in its own right, fitting well with the look of the visor.  It’s got a bit of a knight’s armor look about it, which definitely fits well with that V2 style visor.  The shin guards both have fold-out blades, because what is Snake Eyes without some extra blades?  Snake Eyes’ color scheme is generally pretty similar to the standard Snake Eyes fare, being black and grey.  He does get some extra details in bright green, which is certainly a lot of fun.  Snake Eyes is armed with a silenced assault rifle, a sword with three blades (which can fold in and out), a sort of a spear thing in two parts, a wing pack, and a cool case to carry everything in.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I’ve touched on before, Sigma 6 figures weren’t the easiest things to track down back when they were new.  I wanted *a* Snake Eyes at the time, with this one being the front runner on the list.  I never saw him, so I never got one, but he’s remained at the back of my mind since.  We actually managed to get a pretty cool Sigma 6 collection in at All Time, and this guy was included in it, complete even, so at last I have him.  I’m honestly pretty psyched about it.  He’s just so much fun, much like the rest of the line, and I’m all about it.

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.