Tag Archives: 90s

#3857: Snowtrooper

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

SNOWTROOPER with E-WEB HEAVY REPEATER BLASTER

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

After wrapping up the first round of “Deluxe” figures, which were admittedly on the goofier, gimmicky toy side of things, Kenner’s later deluxe offerings on Power of the Force were instead more in line with the usual Star Wars toy approach of being more actually film accurate.  So, rather than heavy hitters with made up big accessories, we got characters who actually needed the larger scale set-up.  We got three figures, all kind of themed around the Hoth scenes from Empire.  I’ve already looked at the Probe Droid and the Rebel Trooper, so here’s the last of the the three with the Imperial Snowtrooper!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Snowtrooper with E-Web Heavy Repeater Blaster was added to Kenner’s Star Wars: Power of the Force line in 1997.  He was released the same year as the smaller single-card release Snowtrooper, but this one got a different accessory compliment.  The figure stands a little under 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  The standard Snowtrooper was one of the more restricted figures in the line, and this version only scales that up further.  He’s got more of a squat to him, and he’s really only meant for interacting with his accessory.  The sculpt is at least internally consistent, so he fits right in with the standard release, making him a solid choice in regards to army building and the like.  His paint work is also pretty similar in its set-up, though I think the weathering’s a little bit heavier on this release versus the single.  That was true of the Rebel Trooper as well, so there’s some consistency there.  As with most of the deluxe figures, its the accessory set-up that *really* makes a difference.  As the name of the figure points out, this guy’s main set-up is the E-Web, a recurring Imperial armament, which is pretty cool.  It’s a sizable piece, and scales well with the figure, and it works well with the figure’s pre-posing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Honestly, I remember seeing this figure a lot growing up, but I never had one.  My cousin Patrick did, I know.  He was generally more of a Snowtrooper fan than I was, so it tracks.  This one is more of a “completing the set” purchase than anything.  It’s cool enough and very accurate, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t the most “meh” of the Deluxe figures in the line.

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.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0028: Gambit

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

GAMBIT

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

Hey-ho, we are back with the Flashback Friday Figure Addendums here at the FiQ, and I’m sticking with that whole “Toy Biz Marvel” thing, because it sure does bring me comfort.  Or something like that.  Moving past cleaning up my reviews of the first series for a moment, I’m jumping later into the line, with Gambit!

“Gambit has the mutant ability to take the energy of any object and put it to his own use. That use usually means turning the object into a deadly weapon. Gambit is a martial arts expert with a lightning-fast karate kick. When battling multiple attackers, Gambit relies on his Techno Battle Staff for additional assault power.”

As someone whose primary introduction to the X-Men came from their ’90s cartoon, I have an almost unhealthy appreciation for their resident Cajun sleazeball, one Remy LaBeau, aka Gambit.  I am, of course, not at all alone in this, which has helped to keep him relatively high on the action figure count.  Today, I’m jumping back to the beginning, and taking a look at his very first figure (more or less).

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Gambit was initially released in the second series of Toy Biz’s X-Men line.  Following the success of the cartoon, he was subsequently re-released in the “Classics” assortment a few years later.  The figure reviewed here is technically the later release, though the only actual difference between the two is the accessory selection.  This figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  Gambit’s sculpt is fairly typical of an early Toy Biz figure, meaning he’s a little more rudimentary than later offerings would be.  He’s slightly scrawny, and the details are a little softer.  This is definitely a kinder, friendlier looking Gambit than you usually see.  It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s definitely different than other Gambits.  His trench coat seems to have thrown Toy Biz for a bit of a loop, as well.  Rather than sculpting it onto him, they opted for a removable piece…mostly, anyway.  The bulk of the jacket is just a thin plastic get-up, not unlike the capes from the old Kenner Star Wars figures.  It’s not terribly sturdy, and isn’t really the sort of thing we ever saw again from them.  It looks alright, but certainly limits his playability when in place.  What’s slightly odd is the decision to make the collar of this jacket a sculpted element, which is part of the figure’s torso.  This means it’s always there, even when the coat is off of the figure.  Why not just leave the collar as part of the coat?  Who knows.  Well, someone at Toy Biz probably knew, I guess.  Gambit’s paintwork is alright.  It’s pretty basic, and gets the general gist of the character down.  There’s a lot of pink, which is really the most important thing when you get right down to it.  It does get a handful of details wrong, though, such as keeping the sleeves of the shirt pink (rather than matching with the pants as they did in the comics), and the pink squares on the sides of his legs are a different pattern than usually seen.  The original release of Gambit included his staff, while the re-release included the bandolier and knives (presumably meant to stand in for his playing cards) from Longshot.  Gambit has an action feature, a kicking action, which is an interesting choice for the character.  It’s also not implemented incredibly well, because it’s default state is actually with the leg extended, meaning the latch is in a constant state of strain when he’s in a basic standing pose.  The end result is a figure that you will commonly find with his leg forever stuck at a 90 degree angle.  Fortunately, this isn’t the case with my figure, but I’ve seen my fair share of figures that weren’t so lucky.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t recall exactly where I got Gambit, but I know I was with my parents, and it was very early into my collecting because it was before we moved into the house that they’ve been in since I was four.  So, somewhere in late ’95?  Anyway, despite how harsh I may have been on this figure in the actual review segment, it’s worth noting that this remains my very favorite Gambit figure to date, and just one of my favorite X-Men figures in general.

That review hails from right at the end of 2018, as I fell into my return to the vintage reviews a bit.  A few things to clarify here.  As I note in the original review, there are two releases of Gambit, and my original was the second release, with Longshot’s bandolier and knives.  My original photo actually didn’t have Longshot’s knife, but rather a proper playing card, which came from the later X-Men vs Street Fighter Gambit.  I must have grabbed the wrong piece during my original bulk photo session and just never fixed it.  For the purposes of this revisit, I did manage to track down a proper original release Gambit, so now I’ve got the staff as well, and a slightly less messed up coat.  Slightly.  That coat’s still not built to go the distance.  In my original review, I said I didn’t recall where/when I got Gambit.  I seem to have had a lapse in memory there, because I definitely remember getting it from a mall trip with my dad on a day off with him when we were living in our old house.  I got him and Tony Stark, and my Dad got Corsair, I believe.  I remember sneaking down during what was supposed to be my nap time to play with them.

#3853: Boba Fett – Deluxe

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

BOBA FETT with WING-BLAST ROCKET PACK and OVERHEAD CANNON

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“As a result of Luke Skywalker’s daring rescue of Han Solo from the clutches of Jabba the Hutt, Boba Fett was thrust into the Great Pit of Carkoon and presumed to be a victim of the dreaded Sarlacc. Sometimes later, the notorious bounty hunter was spotted on Nar Shaddaa with a menacing-looking weapons pack. Several rumors have been spread concerning his recent escape and present situation, the most prevalent one being that the Hutts have contracted him to capture Han Solo and Princess Leia alive for the death of Jabba.

A weapons master, Boba Fett has a veritable arsenal hidden throughout his Mandalorian armor. His new pack is reported to possess powerful turbo thrusters that provide prolonged atmospheric flight up to 500km per hour. Shielded battlewings open to reveal missile racks loaded with concussion rockets, while heavy-rotating blasters, similar to those mounted on Jabba’s sail barge, respond to optically-activated signals in the helmet. Certainly the deadliest feature of this device/vehicle is the bolstered proton torpedo launcher. It is estimated that this pack was designed and built by Boba Fett himself: besides that fact that not one of its kind has ever been seen before, the type and variety of its weaponry – few other than Fett would dare carry a proton torpedo on his back – suggest that this battle machine be a signature model of the galaxy’s most notorious bounty hunter.”

You know, I gotta say, I do love it when Kenner would get real wordy with the bios on the back of their figures.  These days, Star Wars figures are lucky to get maybe two sentences to themselves, but here’s this wacky variant Boba Fett that’s out here getting an entire post-RotJ storyline.  There’s two whole paragraphs!  That’s dope!  Also, it makes my intro easier, because look how many *words* there are.  Anyway, a while back, I looked at three of the four debut “Deluxe” figures from Power of the Force, which marked a rare instance of Kenner pushing their usual “toyetic” approach on Star Wars, but I never rounded out the set.  So, let’s do that now!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Boba Fett with Wing-Blast Rocketpack and Overhead Cannon (which, yes, is his official name) was part of the first year of Deluxe figures from Kenner’s Star Wars: Power of the Force line in 1996.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  Like the other three figures from the first year, Boba is effectively a tweaked version of the Series 1 Boba, but now with a big accessory you can strap onto him.  The core figure is sort of a merging of the standard and Shadows Boba molds, but also with a more neutral stance, which also makes him just the slightest bit taller.  Beyond that, it’s more or less the same figure, with more or less the same design elements.  It’s not terrible, but it’s also a little removed from accurate.  His color work follows the Series 1 set-up, putting him in specifically his Return of the Jedi colors, which, given the way the bio goes, makes a degree of sense.  It was also the look being most pushed by the multi-media side at the time, so that also makes him the most evergreen look, I suppose.  His main change-up is the inclusion of the “Wing-Blast Rocketpack and Overhead Cannon,” which replaces his usual, more modest jet-pack.  It’s really big, and it makes him rather unstable, but I guess it’s…like, fun?  Is that allowed?  Are Star Wars figures allowed to be fun?  Eh, I’ll allow it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When I was a kid, I wasn’t much of a Fett guy myself, but my cousin Rusty was.  With that in mind, I bought him one of these for his birthday the year they came out, but, unfortunately, someone else had done the same.  He told me I should open it, and it was his birthday, so I did.  And since I’d opened it and it couldn’t be returned for another gift, I ended up keeping it.  Well, just the core figure.  I never had the backpack.  And, honestly, I didn’t have the core figure for long either, as I lost him somewhere along the way.  The one here in the review is the result of quite a hunt.  See, I found the figure and the backpack with ease, but the launcher and the missile seem to be the one thing that goes missing every time. At one point, I even got my hands on a sealed one, and that one was somehow missing the missile and launcher *in the package.*  As you can see, though, I did eventually find a complete one.  He’s goofy and silly, but he’s neat.

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.

#3850: X-Man

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

X-MAN

MARVEL’S MOST WANTED (TOY BIZ)

“Nate Grey is a stranger in a strange world. He’s a survivor of the Age of Apocalypse – a world like ours, but one where the evil mutant Apocalypse ruled supreme. Now, after that world’s ruin, Nate finds himself on our Earth, struggling to save it from a similar destiny. Genetically engineered to be the most powerful psi-talent ever, Nate’s discovered that the psychic strain may be too much for his body to handle. Nate has also found that he bears a striking resemblance to the future warrior known as X-Man Cable…”

By-and-large, the sweeping changes made by the “Age of Apocalypse” crossover were swept back to other way when the even ended, reverting the main cast of characters back to their mainstream counterparts without much fuss.  But, what of the characters who didn’t have a counterpart?  Well, a small handful of them actually got to stick around, at least for a little bit.  Nate Grey, aka X-Man, was *technically* the equal number to Cable, but with a different backstory and direct lineage, as well as a quite different ultimate outcome in terms of character, he got kept around for a bit past the event’s wrap-up.  That wound up being extra fortunate, because it *also* gave him extra time to get some toy coverage!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

X-Man is the third and final figure in Toy Biz’s 1998 Marvel’s Most Wanted line.  Its an odd line-up for the name it was given.  At the time, Nate was the closest you’d get to a “heavy hitter” since he was headlining his own book (Blink would later headline Exiles, elevating her personal status a bit, at the same time that Nate was on the downswing; Spat pretty much never got time in the spotlight).  In his solo book, Nate was constantly changing out his attire, generally keeping just a general feel of look, so to go with something more directly marketable, this figure goes back to his original AoA look, which, to be fair, he also sported for a bit in the main 616.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and he has 14 points of articulation.  He was honestly pretty solid on the movement front, but contains an interesting design oddity.  His shoulder joints consist of a mix of swivel and ball-joint assembly, with the ball joint pegging into a swivel joint on the main torso.  Said swivel is ultimately redundant, since the ball joint can turn just fine on its own.  Why is it like that?  I don’t know.  The sculpt here is one of the more stylized of the Toy Biz run, though that was kind of true in general for this particular set.  He’s a bit pre-posed, with an odd sort of twist to the body, and he ultimately looks quite a bit elongated, especially the head.  It does end up feeling pretty true to the character, though, so I can’t really knock it.  X-Man’s paint work is generally basic; the suit consists of molded blue and painted yellow.  Application’s all pretty clean, so no issues there.  He’s packed with a rather involved display stand, presumably meant to replicate his psychic powers.  It was one Toy Biz liked a lot; it wound up re-used for Astral Doctor Strange and the Marvel Legends Human Torch.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

X-Man is the only one of this set I had as a kid.  I was at Toys “R” Us with my dad, and it was either him or Red Skull.  I only *sort of* knew him from a team-up I’d read with Spider-Man, but I’ve always been more a heroes guy than a villains guy, so X-Man it was.  In retrospect, choosing him over the Nazi does feel like the obvious choice, right?  X-Man actually got a bit of service as some non-X-Man characters, serving as the Rick Jones to my Avengers for a while, and also as a stand-in for Kid Action/Action Boy alongside my Toy Biz M. Bison, who was my go-to for Captain Action.  Look, sometimes my figure options didn’t always match up with the stories my mind needed to tell, okay? Ultimately, he’s still my favorite of the three figures, though it’s certainly nice to have him alongside the other two after all of these years.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0027: Apocalypse

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

APOCALYPSE

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

After a brief stop over to the world of Star Wars, this week the Flashback Friday Figure Addendums head back over to Marvel territory. Yes, the end is nigh!  …well, okay, not quite, but I *am* looking at Apocalypse.

“Apocalypse is the evil mutant who has used his sinister genius and mutant ability to turn himself into a merciless one man army! Apocalypse is incredibly strong, able to change his size at will, and has created for himself a weapon system designed to destroy the X-Men. Apocalypse is the most frightening evil mutant on Earth when he turns himself into a giant, puts on this deadly arsenal and attacks!”

Following Magneto’s turn to the side of good in the ’80s, the X-Men spent quite a bit of time in search of a new over-arching big bad. They found a number of potential offerings, none of whom quite hit that same spot, but perhaps the most successful of them was En Sabah Nur, aka Apocalypse. He was a consistent foe in the back half of the ’80s, up into the ’90s, so his place early into Toy Biz’s run was certainly sensible.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Apocalypse was one of the three villains released alongside our heroes in Series 1 of Toy Biz’s X-Men line. He served as a rather sensible counterpart to the same series’ Archangel figure. The figure stands 5 1/2 inches tall and he had 11 points of articulation (though two of those points can be somewhat debated, since they’re tied into his “action-feature”). Apocalypse’s sculpt, like many others in this assortment, is definitely showing its age. What’s interesting is that it’s due to slightly different factors than some of the others. It’s not that he doesn’t quite live up to his comics appearance the way Archangel or Storm or Cyclops do, it’s actually that he’s too faithful to an Apocalypse design that itself has fallen out of fashion. He depicts Apocalypse as he is seen in his earlier X-Factor appearances, when he was still rather lean, and still rather square and stiff. It’s a very different take on the character, and his beefier revamp design from just a few years later would end up being the prevailing design and informing how the character was depicted for the three decades since his creation. As such, this guy definitely looks out of place amongst the others, but paired with the Cyclops and Archangel from this assortment, he starts to fit in a bit better. Ultimately, the actual sculpt is one of the more competent ones from this first set. I think I’d place him in the number three slot, after Nightcrawler and Magneto. His proportions are certainly believable for this incarnation of the character, and his construction is quite sturdy. Apocalypse’s paintwork is fairly standard stuff. It’s rather limited, and the application is messy in some spots, especially the belt. Apocalypse included a staff, which is supposed to have a “gem” at the top of it. Mine’s gone missing, so my Apocalypse just looks like he’s holding a broken ball-point pen. He also has an “Extending Body” feature, where his torso and legs extend outward, in sort of a stretching sort of fashion. It’s rather goofy, and not really worth much extra, but it’s not like it impedes the figure overall.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m not 100% sure how I got Apocalypse. He was an earlier addition to the collection, I know that much, most likely gotten during my parents early efforts to expand my collection. I was watching the cartoon by that point, so I knew the character. Regardless of how I got the figure, he’s stuck with me for quite some time, despite my not being super into Apocalypse. As I noted in the review, he’s a somewhat dated figure, based on an outdated design, but he’s actually one of the stronger figures in the first assortment, and he depicts a version of the character we don’t often see.

This review is from 2018, so…well, okay, I guess it’s not *super* recent, but in my mind I consider it recent.  It’s got all the trappings of a modern review.  And, you know what, I was actually pretty kind to this figure, given it’s Apocalypse and he’s not usually one of my favorites.  It helps that this is just a figure that I find really fun, even now.  When I reviewed him, my Apocalypse was missing the “Jewel” from his staff, which I have now found.  Yay!  It’s just a solid blue spike-y thing, not particularly jewel-y, and I don’t think it really disarms the “ballpoint pen” vibe the staff already had, but at least it’s complete.  Of course, he’s still missing the cables that go from the torso to the arms, but that’s a whole other thing.

#3849: Kabe & Muftak

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

KABE & MUFTAK

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE (KENNER)

The ’90s run of Power of the Force has a pretty impressive depth to it, making it the first really notable example of getting a bunch of figures based on all the blin-and-you’ll-miss-them aliens that appear in the original trilogy.  Obviously, it was just sort of the tip of the iceberg in terms of what Hasbro would do as the line expanded, but there are still a number of characters who got their first figures under PotF and haven’t yet gotten a follow-up.  Today’s entry, which focuses on two patrons of the Mos Eisley cantina, is kind of in line with that.  So, let’s look at Kabe and Muftak.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Kabe and Muftak were an online-exclusive Star Wars: Power of the Force release, made available on Hasbro’s direct shop in 1998.

Kabe here is the smaller of the two included figures, putting her somewhere in the area of Jawa sizing in terms of scale. She’s technically the more fortunate of the two figures, having gotten a second figure after this one (though that one was really just a minor repaint of this one).  The figure stands 2 1/2 inches tall and she has 4 points of articulation.  Since she’s got that long robe over the legs, she get no movement there, with movement ending at the waist.  It does at least make her a rather stable figure.  Her sculpt is fine.  It’s a little rough, for sure.  A lot of the Power of the Force figures are somewhat dated looking, but still look finalized, but Kabe is…well, she feels a little bit unfinished.  I think it may be partly to do with the available reference material, or rather the lack of it, since she’s not exactly a highly visible character.  But, it’s at leas rather unique, so I guess there’s that.  The vest is a separate piece, so you can remove it for a bit more customizability, and perhaps give it to another smaller creature?  I do rather like her paint work, which adds quite a bit of accenting, and really helps to offset the more unfinished nature of the sculpt.  Kabe is packed with a sci-fi knife thingy.

Muftak is the one-and-done of the set (though the sculpt was re-used in the Saga Collection line for Foul Moudama, from Clone Wars), so there’s more riding on this one?  Also he’s a lot larger.  The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation.  He’s very tall, but not very posable.  But, he’s also a bit pre-posed.  So there’s that.  I do like that one elbow swivel he’s got.  He’s sporting an at the time unique sculpt.  It’s actually quite a nice sculpt.  The fur detailing is solid, showing a better flow than most of the Chewbaccas from the line, and his generally unique look is sold rather well.  He’s also just nice and solid-feeling, and stands really well on his own.  Just a lot of wins there.  The paint’s not bad.  There’s same accenting and shading on the fur, which is perhaps a touch heavy in some spots, but overall works quite well.  Muftak is packed with a larger blaster pistol, which he can rather awkwardly hold in his left hand, if you’re so inclined.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m firmly in the group of people that would probably have no clue these characters even existed were it not for the figures.  And, also the decision to go completist on this line.  The web exclusives can be a bit spotty on ease of access, mostly because so many people ignored them for so long.  They’re not expensive, but they’re rarer to show up.  I snagged these two, loose, from a sizable Star Wars collection traded into All Time a couple of years ago.  Kabe’s nothing much to write home about, but Muftak’s honestly pretty cool.

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.

#3846: Spat & Grovel

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

SPAT & GROVEL

MARVEL’S MOST WANTED (MANUFACTURER)

Last week, I wrapped up my reviews of the Toy Biz X-Men Savage Land series, looking at Joseph, a very dialed into the moment character at the time of his release.  So, today, let’s dial in even further!  In the 1997 storyline that sent a portion of the X-Men to the Savage Land (which I referenced in my Joseph review), Gambit is set upon by Spat, a bounty hunter who has a past with him.  Spat and her bestial partner Grovel are more or less a footnote in the X-Men’s history, but they have the fun little side-bit of being designed by creators Scott Lobdell and Joe Madureira specifically to be too weird to make for a good transition to toy form (something most X-characters where doing at that point).  So, they made them a woman aging in reverse and a weird space lizard.  And, of course, they had their own action figures in less than a year, because of course they did.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spat & Grovel were released in the 1998 Marvel’s Most Wanted series from Toy Biz.  It’s…well, it’s certainly a bold name for a series that included Spat & Grovel…or really any of the figure’s from it.  But, there it was.  These two are certainly the most obscure of the three offerings, hence this also being the only time they’ve shown up as action figures.

Spat’s really the main figure here, with Grovel being kind of an accessory, much in the same way as the Savage Land sets handled their figure and creature set-ups.  The figure is about 2 1/2 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Given her smaller stature, she just moves at the basic five, and even then, the hips are v-hips, so the end result is a figure that really doesn’t move all that much.  She’s really just a stand-er.  The sculpt does an okay job of capturing Madureira’s drawings of the character, with his slightly more cartoonish proportions and stylings all pretty well present.  The head admittedly looks a bit too much like a full-grown woman’s head, on a very small body.  That being said, it’s not a terrible offering.  I do like the flow on the headband, though, as well as the texturing on the fur of her outfit.  Spat’s paint work is pretty solid.  Both the hair and outfit get some accenting work to help sell the sculpted details as well.  Spat is packed with a spear with a chain on the end of it, which she holds nicely in her left hand.

Grovel’s a big space lizard, and that’s what this figure aims to be.  He’s a big, chunky thing, a fair bit larger than Spat.  Exactly *how* much larger than Spat he’s supposed to be varied a bit in the comics, so the figure just goes for demonstrably larger, and makes it work.  He’s got base movement at the top of each leg, and the tail can twist, so there’s some slight variation in play.  He’s also got a mouth opening action feature; pushing down the front-most fins opens the mouth up a fair bit.  He’s got some cool patterning for the paint work, which is pretty fun to look at, and generally sells the whole “giant space lizard” bit rather well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As a kid, I had literally no clue who Spat and Grovel were, and they were new, so my dad, who was my primary source of information on “who these guys were,” didn’t know either, so I kind of just missed out on them.  As such, they were the last of this particular set I picked up, actually just a few weeks ago.  I’ve been on a real Toy Biz kick, largely because I’m finally trying to actually put them out on display, and I put the other two from this set out and figured it might be a good time to finally finish the set.  They’re a rather goofy pair of characters, and not so much toy-friendly, but at the same time, I don’t think they’re un-toy-friendly either.  And, it’s not like there’s ever going to be another version of this pair, so they’ve got that particular novelty, if nothing else.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0026: Princess Leia Organa as Boushh

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

PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA as BOUSHH

STAR WARS: SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE (KENNER)

For our second Flashback Friday Figure Addendum that’s actually back on a Friday, I’m following up on a thing from last week, and doing another Star Wars follow-up.  Heck, it’s even another Shadows of the Empire follow-up, because that’s how I roll…you know, right now specifically.  Anyway, let’s revisit Leia as Boushh!

“After Han Solo was captured by Boba Fett, several attempts were made on Luke Skywalker’s life which threatened the future of the Rebellion. Princess Leia Organa and Chewbacca sought to protect the young Jedi, and traveled to Coruscant to follow up leads surrounding these attempts. They hoped to draw from the extreme intelligence gathering network of the Black Sun, a criminal organization whose operations extended to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. Because Coruscant is the homeworld of the Empire- a dangerous place for any member of the Rebel Alliance- Leia disguised herself as the renowned Ubesian bounty hunter Boushh. Boushh’s helmet concealed her entire face while a built-in voxscrambler altered her voice to resemble that of an Ubesian; a false I.D. and code taken from Black Sun completed her disguise and provided a safe level of anonymity. Little did she know that Prince Xizor, Underlord of Black Sun, was behind the murder attempts on Skywalker, and had his sights set on Leia as well.”

Long bio there.  How do you follow that, amirite?  Um, so, yeah, today’s another Star Wars review. Yaaaay.  This time around I’m taking a look at another Princess Leia figure, specifically the one from that time she pretended to be a bounty hunter.  Everybody loves bounty hunters!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Leia in Boushh disguise was released not as part of the main Power of the Force II line, but instead as part of the basic assortment of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (she would later see a re-release on a standard PotF2 green card, though).  She has the notoriety of being the only movie-based figure in the line-up.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation.  As with the PotF2 Slave Leia figure, this Leia is a bit on the tall side.  This was a recurring issue early into this line; at least they were consistent, right?  Leia sports a unique sculpt. It’s fairly decent for the time, being only slightly pre-posed and generally pretty decently proportioned.  It captures the look from the movie pretty well, and only makes minor stylistic adjustments.  The thermal detonator in her left hand is permanently attached, which removes a little bit of versatility from the figure, but given how integral that piece is to her intro in Jedi, I’m willing to give them a pass.  The head doesn’t exactly look like Carrie Fisher, but it also doesn’t look like a chimpanzee, which puts it ahead of most of the Leias of the time.  The paintwork on Leia is generally pretty solid.  The colors match well enough with what we see on-screen, and the application is all pretty clean.  Leia was packed with a removable helmet and half-cape to complete her Boushh look, as well as the usual staff, which according to the packaging is actually a blaster rifle.  Who knew?  I certainly didn’t.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This wasn’t my first Leia (that was the monkey-faced ANH version), but this figure has the distinction of being my go-to Leia for most of my childhood.  I actually don’t 100% recall where this figure came from.  She was probably a gift, likely for my birthday, but that’s really just me making an educated guess.  Nevertheless, this was my favorite Leia for a good long while, and is the strongest of the ’90s Leia figures.  This figure is pretty much single-handedly responsible for my love of Leia as Boushh.

This review was actually my very first Shadows figure, tempered a bit, I suppose, by the fact that she’s one of the two that pulled double duty between Shadows and the main line.  I don’t remember specifically where mine came from, but I do recall that purple card, so I know she was the Shadows release.  This review stuck to brevity, but not in a bad way.  I think I was honestly pretty on point here.  When I reviewed her, she was the antithesis of Luke, who had his weapon and half-cape, but no helmet, in that she had the helmet, but not the other things.  Thankfully, I was able to locate the missing parts in the mean time, so she’s all complete again.  The cape likes to pop out of place a lot, but she’s otherwise still a very nice figure, and remains my favorite Leia of this era.

#3842: Joseph & Amphibious

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

JOSEPH & AMPHIBIOUS

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“Temporarily stricken with amnesia, the evil Mutant of Magnetism, Magneto, now goes by the name Joseph. When he finds himself in the company of the X-Men in the Savage Land, Joseph is free to use his impressive powers of magnetism to manipulate not only metal, but earth as well as his every desire. Alongside his frog-like companion, Amphibious, Joseph proves time and time again why he is one of the most powerful mutants on the planet.”

And we’re headed back into the Savage Land!  But, now it’s gonna get all weird…well, weirder than it was.  Maybe.  It’s all relative.  Or something.  …Where was I?  Oh, right, Savage Land.  For the final entry in the Savage Land set, Toy Biz went really current and topical, with the one and only figure of Joseph, a character whose backstory was still unfolding at the time of this figure’s release, which is why the bio is actually just plain wrong.  Joseph was *not* Magneto de-aged and stricken with amnesia, but rather a *clone* of Magneto, created to best the original, who just so happened to re-surface after the original’s supposed demise.  Magneto’s return wound up leading to *Joseph’s* demise, and Magento’s general turn to the more heroic side since has meant that Joseph’s returns to life have tended to have him take a more villainous role, in order to offset.  It’s a bit complicated, but you know what’s not?  The toys!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Joseph and Amphibius are the fifth and final entry in the 1997 “Savage Land” assortment of Toy Biz’s X-Men line.  As noted in the intro, Joseph was rather a current addition to the team at the time, making him an interesting counterpart to the rest of the line-up, which consisted of a classic look for Angel, more or less evergreen designs for Ka-Zar and Storm, and a very modernized (at the time) Wolverine.  Joseph actually wound up in the Savage Land the same year this figure was released, but was not with any of the other characters featured (he actually spent most of his time with Maggott, who was *supposed* to get a figure, but it was cancelled…)

Joseph is seen here with his one and only action figure.  There’s something ironic about said only figure not even being a standard look, but it’s at least just a slight variation, and not as far removed as some of the others.  He’s got his same core look, that being the basic blue-and-gold suit, but it’s now sleeveless and he’s added a few things on top of it. The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and he has 10 points of articulation. Joseph is another re-use heavy figure, making use of a large number of parts from the Age of Apocalypse Cyclops. He gets a new head and left arm. The arm is really just designed to mimic the right, removing the asymmetric armoring of the Cyclops. It also adds an animal skull armor piece to the shoulder. The new head is quite a nice piece, and manages to capture Joseph’s usual depictions pretty well, while also fitting nicely with the base body. The long hair does mean he lacks a lot of neck mobility, but it’s still better than nothing at all. His color work is generally okay; there’s a slight metallic finish to the uniform, which I rather like. The only thing I’m not crazy about is the painted on rips to the uniform. They don’t match the actual molded skin tone, and they end up just looking a bit hokey. Ultimately, it’s the one thing the figure would be better without. Joseph is packed with a disc launching accessory, which can sort of double as a bladed weapon and a shield.

Wolverine and Storm may have gotten made up creatures, but Joseph gets an actual, proper character, and one with no other figure treatment at that. Yes, it’s Amphibious, one of the “mutates” created by the original Magneto during his stay in the Savage Land. It’s a bit of a reach, but certainly a cool one, and he even has an okay tie to Joseph. He winds up being up-scaled a bit to justify taking the “creature” spot. So, instead of being about the same size as a normal person, he’s almost that same height crouching. It’s at least a nice sculpt, if perhaps a slightly exaggerated one. He’s also got slightly more involved painting work than some of the other creatures. And, the head is soft rubber, with a small hole allowing it to be filled with water. Squeezing the head then allows him to “spit.”

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had two of the Savage Land sets as a kid. The first was Angel, the other was this one. There were two different KB Toys outlets my family always hit while vacationing. One was right outside our vacation spot, and the other was on the drive back. These came from that second one. I got Angel because I’d lost the one from my original members set. I didn’t have a Magneto in my collection, and at the time, we all still thought he *was* Magneto, so I also got this one. I was also happy to have Amphibious, as I’d just read his original comics appearances at the time. Amphibious got lost somewhere along the way, necessitating a replacement (which actually came from Yesterday’s Fun, which is near where my family vacations), and Joseph himself was part of the box of misplaced X-Men figures I dug out during “The Find” in 2016. This is probably my favorite of these sets, partially because of my nostalgia for it, and partially because it’s the most unique of them, ultimately. In general, I was pleasantly surprised by the Savage Land set. They’re far from high concept, but the execution across the board is a very simple sort of fun.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0025: Luke Skywalker in Imperial Guard Disguise

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

LUKE SKYWALKER in IMPERIAL GUARD DISGUISE

STAR WARS: SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE (KENNER)

What’s this?  The Flashback Figure Addendums are back on Fridays?  Yes, dear reader, they are.  I moved them to Mondays to tie-in with Marvel, but it was honestly bugging me, because then they’re not “Flashback Fridays” anymore, and it feels like it kind of misses the point.  Additionally, I’m feeling stretched just a bit too thin these days.  And, rather than take a whole hiatus, I’ve decided to give myself a slight breather on Fridays.  So, for the foreseeable future, you’ll be getting four new reviews a week from me, as well as one Flashback Friday Figure Addendum.  For our first Addendum back on a Friday, we’re tying in with yesterday’s Star Wars review, with Luke Skywalker in Imperial Guard Disguise!

“The Empire’s victory in the Battle of Hoth has brought hard times for the Rebel Alliance. Han Solo has been frozen in carbonite by Darth Vader, and two huge bounties have been placed on the head of Luke Skywalker. The Emperor wants him alive, but Prince Xizor , underlord of the most powerful criminal organization in the galaxy, wants him dead. Worse still is that the diabolical Xizor is holding Princess Leia Organa prisoner in his castle on the Imperial Center of Coruscant. this is a tactical maneuver, part of a larger master plan to lure Luke Skywalker into his castle where he can be easily eliminated — the key step in Xizor’s plan to replace Darth Vader at the Emperor’s side. unaware of this danger, the young Jedi and Lando Calrissian sneak into Imperial City hoping to rescue Leia. Simplylaying foot on Coruscant is a dangerous act for these two: high on the Empire’s list of most-wanted outlaws, they could easily be recognized and captured — or assassinated. Disguising themselves as beggars, they “borrow” the armored uniforms from a pair of elite Coruscant stormtroopers. These troopers are some of the Empire’s finest, selected as home guards for the wealthiest and most cultured city in the galaxy. Joining forces with Chewbacca and Dash Rendar, Skywalker and Calrissian attempt to infiltrate Xizor’s nearly impenetrable stronghold and rescue the princess.”

1996’s Shadows of the Empire was important, in that it was the first time the public at large had been introduced to the Star Wars Expanded Universe. It’s also an interesting experiment in marketing, essentially being a movie merchandising campaign that lacked a movie. There were a handful of figures, mixed in with Kenner’s then running Power of the Force II. Newcomers Dash Rendar and Prince Xizor got figures, of course, but there were also new variants of out heroes Luke, Leia, and Chewbacca, all of whom had to take on disguises during this new story. I’ve looked at both Leia and Chewbacca, which just leaves Luke, who I’ll be reviewing today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Luke Skywalker in Imperial Guard Disguise was released in the basic figure assortment of Kenner’s Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire line. The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation. This Luke uses the same head as all of the other early PotF2 Lukes. It’s not the best likeness, but hey, here’s to consistency, right? The rest of the figure is brand new. The packaging dubs his look as “Imperial Guard Disguise,” a name that tends to conjure up the red guards from Return of the Jedi, who look quite a bit different than the look Luke is sporting here. However, the bio fills us in that this armor is actually from one of the elite Stormtroopers on Coruscant, making it a separate look entirely. As with so much of the design work seen in Shadows, the armor is undeniably a product of mid-90s comic book design, meaning it’s a little divorced from the original trilogy designs. His armor’s bulky and ultra padded, and seems to lack that used look we’re so accustomed to. It’s a little hard to reconcile this as a design that would appear in between Empire and Jedi. That being said, it’s hardly a terrible look. In fact, it manages to be rather unique and helps this Luke to stand out a bit from the crowd of other Lukes from over the years. The paint work on this figure is fairly decent, and, like the rest of his design, fairly unique. The red’s a nice shade, and all of the application is pretty clean. He’s packed with a removable helmet and half-cape to help complete his full disguise. Since Luke lost his father’s lightsaber in Empire and didn’t build a new one until the beginning of Jedi, he of course needed a new weapon, so this figure included a taser staff weapon.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure was, I believe, my first Shadows of the Empire figure. My cousin Noah had saved up to buy the PotF2 Millennium Falcon, and was along for the trip to go buy it. Noah’s mother, who took us on the trip, agreed to get me one figure. Luke was my favorite character, and this figure appealed to my 5-year-old self, so he was the one I picked. I’d say having this guy in my collection already was probably what pushed me to pick up the Bounty Hunter Chewbacca instead of the normal one, and owning these two is certainly not a decision I regret in the slightest.

This is from 2018, when I was pretty deep into my Power of the Force revisit that was brought on by a bunch of figures purchased the year prior.  Luke was, of course, from my original run, so he snuck in there closer to the end.  I was still operating off of the bulk photos I’d shot some time back in early 2016, so he didn’t get updated to get turnarounds.  And, while I had managed to locate both his cape and weapon for the purposes of that review, I had not yet found his helmet, which I found sometime in the last few years and set to the side and promptly forgot about.  But, here it is now!  Beyond those two things, I stand by my review, and I still do love this figure quite a bit.