Tag Archives: 90s

#3968: Death Star with Darth Vader

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

DEATH STAR with DARTH VADER

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“Designed to invoke fear throughout the galaxy, the Death Star battle station is the largest, most powerful object in the galaxy. The size of a planet or small moon, the massive weapon took nearly two years of construction in the Horuz system located in the Outer Rim Territories.  A fully-equipped array of surface weapons including turbolaser batteries, laser cannons, ion cannons, and tractor beam emplacements served as deense to the centerpiece offensive weapon — a superlaser system more powerful than the entire Imperial fleet. Capable of disintegrating an entire planet with a single pulse, the superlaser was demonstrated on the planet Alderaan during an attempt to extract vital information from Princess Leia.

Commanded by Grand Moff Tarkin, who oversaw its construction, the Death Star is in effect a self-sustaining world. it houses a crew of approximately 800,000 enlisted soldiers and officers, nearly 400,000 support and maintenance personnel, over 25,000 stormtroopers, and an additional 400,000 droids of various sophistication to assist the support staff.  Also found on the Death Star are several of Darth Vader’s specialized meditation chambers. Exactly like the chamber first seen aboard the Super Star Destroyer Executor, these compartments function as pressurized spheres offering Vader an inner sanctum.”

Have I mentioned recently how Kenner was really just trying a little bit of everything with the Star Wars license in the mid-to-late ‘90s?  Because it’s gonna come up a lot as I get into the depths of what I haven’t reviewed from Power of the Force.  1998 was sort of the height of all the craziness, with lines all over the place, any one of which could have been the straw that ultimately broke the proverbial camel’s back.  In addition to the main line, the “Princess Leia Collection,” The Expanded Universe, and a CD-ROM Game-based playset, Kenner also got into the “Complete Galaxy,” an assortment of weird little contained globe kind of things based on locales from the movies.  I think they were meant to be like Micro Machines or Polly Pocket, but scaled up (which is funny, because there were officially branded Star Wars Micro Machines already).  Largely, they seemed to justify doing another figure with each set.  Today, I look at the Death Star and its occupant, Darth Vader.

THE TOY ITSELF

The Death Star with Darth Vader is one of four sets that make up the “Complete Galaxy” sub-line of Star Wars: Power of the Force.  They were part of the single 1998 assortment.  This set was unique in not being an actual planet-thing (I guess…Endor’s hard to classify), and also being the only one from A New Hope….technically.  Why technically?  Well, while the Death Star itself is very clearly its first movie design, when you open it up to view the “playset” inside, you get a version of Vader’s hyperbaric chamber, which makes its debut onboard the Executor in Empire.  I suppose there *could* have been one onboard the Death Star, but it’s certainly not something we see in the film.  Questionable accuracy aside, the interior is a neat enough set-up.  There’s a swiveling chair for Vader to sit in, and a console behind him, as well as an arm affixed to the top part, which can hold the top portion of his helmet for him.

The included Vader figure is a good indicator of the majority of this set’s figures, which is an overwhelmingly “different for the sake of different” figure.  He stands a little over 3 3/4 inches tall and  has 8 points of articulation.  His construction is fairly similar to (though notably different from) the Gunner Station figure, especially with his added knee articulation.  The details on this one are once again leaning into the Empire designs, with the robes running under the shoulder armor.  The biggest change-up is that his hands are turned to the side, so as to better rest on the sides of the chair.  His head is shared with the figure from the Board Game release, with its removable dome.  It’s all topped off with a cloth cape, which is better for letting him sit in his chair.  The color work is the basic Vader set-up for the most part, with the addition of the visible skin under the removable dome.  The application is generally pretty clean, and about what you’d expect for the line.  Apart from the removable dome, he’s got no other accessories, notably missing  his lightsaber, though I guess he couldn’t hold it anyway.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

These are one of those oddball parts of Power of the Force that I completely missed when the line was new.  I’ve seen them a few times since, but there’s not a lot of uniqueness going on there, so I skipped them a bunch of times, until I finally realized that I might need to get around to finally picking them up.  Vader was the first one that ran past me after I decided to finally get them.  It’s fine.  The globe thing is an odd gimmick, but I guess it’s fun enough.  The included figure is sort of middle of the pack, but I suppose it could be worse.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3967: Janice Rand

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

JANICE RAND

STAR TREK (PLAYMATES)

Well, I’ve officially run out of Playmates Star Trek figures based on “The Cage” and while I could easily use that as a reason to stop doing Trek reviews, I’ve decided to not…do…that.  Because I’m nuts, or something.  I’m sticking to the Classic Trek side, though, because that’s where I feel the most comfortable.  I’ve looked at all of the core crew members, as well as one of the more notable recurring crew, Nurse Chapel.  I haven’t looked at the other most notable recurring crew member, Janice Rand, who was a pretty notable character until her actress Grace Lee Whitney was suddenly let out of her contract halfway through the first season.  Despite her abrupt departure, Rand still made an impact, and that makes her more than worthy of the action figure treatment!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Janice Rand was released in the fifth “mixed assortment” of Playmates’ general Star Trek line, the same assortment that included Chapel.  The two of them served to round out the bridge crew set from earlier in the line.  The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall and she has 12 points of articulation.  Her articulation scheme is almost identical to that of Chapel, with the standard line set-up and the more restricted hip joints due to the skirt.  Rand’s sculpt is unique to her, which is somewhat surprising, given it’s the same uniform as Uhura, but it was totally new.  The exact layout of her uniform is slightly different, but it’s accurate to how it looked on the show.  The head’s not a pitch perfect Grace Lee Whitney likeness, but it’s close enough to sell the general idea of who she’s supposed to be.  Certainly, it’s as close as most of the other figures in the line got, especially when it comes to the classic Trek characters.  Like Chapel, she avoids the big-headed-ness of the earlier figures in the line, which is always a plus.  Her color work is basic but generally well handled.  The red on her uniform is a little darker than the color used for Uhura and Scotty in the boxed set, for not particularly clear reasons, but internally it works fine.  Rand is packed with a phaser, a tricorder, a communicator, a data pad, and a display stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As with Chapel, I didn’t have Rand as a kid, but I do remember my dad getting one for his collection.  I ended up snagging this time in mid-2018, at the same time as the Spock from “The Cage.”  I got both of them loose without their accessories, but as with Spock, I was able to find her accessories after the fact, and here she is in all her complete goodness.  She’s not quite as strong a figure as Chapel, but she’s still a better figure than the core crew set figures, so that’s not so bad.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3966: Red Tornado

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

RED TORNADO

JLA (HASBRO)

“Although the robotic being known as the Red Tornado was originally created by the Justice League of America’s foe T.O. Morrow, his heroism has never been questioned. Red Tornado’s capable of generating and maintaining winds of tornado velocity – and even greater.”

For as much a presence as it had on my formative years of toy collection, I haven’t talked a ton about Hasbro’s JLA line here on the site.  Launched at the end of the ’90s, the line served as a continuation to Kenner’s earlier Total Justice line, with a focus on filling out the roster, in most cases with as few new parts as possible.  It had a few boxed sets, and four assortment run of single-carded figures, and did its job of filling out the roster for sure.  The aim of the line was for modern takes on the team, but a few classic characters found their way, albeit often with a modern flair, like today’s offering, Red Tornado!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Red Tornado was released in Series 4 of Hasbro’s JLA line, which wound up being the last assortment.  Diamond did boxed sets that repacked the “new” figures from each assortment with a couple of exclusive figures, but they dropped off by this line-up, so everyone just got a single release.  Tornado was seen here in his then current look, which had returned him to a more robotic design, like his original look.  It was notably the look he was sporting in Young Justice at the time, and given the three leads from that book had been added in the prior assortment, it made a lot of sense.  The figure stands 5 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  As I noted in the intro, this line tried to work in as much re-use as possible, and Tornado was pretty high on that list.  He re-used the arms from Superman, along with the re-tooled torso that removed all the costume specific details, and also had the legs from the Blue Beetle figure.  The combination means he’s not *super* pre-posed, but he does wind up with one leg just sort of jutting to the side, which is a touch silly looking.  He did get a new head and cape, though, and both of those were solid pieces.  The cape has a decent hang, and I like the sculpted piping on the edges.  The head’s a nice recreation of his “modern” faceplate design, and though it’s a bit tiny, it sits well on the body.  His paint’s very simple.  The bulk of the coloring is molded, and I do quite like the slightly metallic red of the body.  Most of the paint is just the yellow elements, which are generally pretty clean, though the head arrow has a bit of wear on mine.  Red Tornado included a “JLA” display stand in yellow of all colors, for some reason.  It does at least keep him standing.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was quite excited for the assortment this guy was from, because it had some decent deep cut characters you couldn’t get elsewhere at the time.  Tornado was found on a trip to Toys R Us with my dad, during some downtime at his job for “Take Your Kid To Work Day.”  I got this guy and the X-Men Movie Storm and Sabretooth.  I’ve always really liked this figure, and by extension I have a real soft spot for this design for Tornado.  The figure’s not terribly impressive technically, I suppose, but he’s a nice, rather clean take on the character.

#3965: Namor the Submariner

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

NAMOR THE SUBMARINER

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOY BIZ)

“Born from the depths of the ocean, Namor, the avenging son, is Prince of the noble underwater city of Atlantis. The hybrid offspring of a human and an Atlantean, Namor’s quest for adventure brought him into contact with the surface world and its inhabitants. Although sometimes at odds with the actions and agendas of the land dwellers, the Sub-Mariner often lent his incredible strength and exalted heroism towards the fight for justice and humanity.”

You just gotta space out your Namor reviews, guys.  It’s the only way to do it.  That’s why I haven’t reviewed a Namor figure since 2023.  Also, because I don’t have a *ton* of Namor figures, and I actually haven’t bought any in the mean time.  That might contribute to it as well.  Today’s Namor isn’t even a new Namor.  It’s not even new to me, even.  It’s actually the oldest a Namor figure can be, because it’s the first one he got.  Have I said Namor enough?  Clearly not.  Onto the review proper!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Namor the Submariner was released in the third series of Toy Biz’s Fantastic Four line.  The show had moved onto its second season by this point, which houses neither of Namor’s two appearances, but they didn’t let that hold them back from releasing him.  The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and he has 10 points of articulation…sort of.  The shoulder and elbow on his right arm are both tied into his action feature, so they don’t move particularly well on their own.  On the flip side, he does get an additional wrist swivel on that side, so there’s some extra movement there.  Namor got an all-new sculpt for this release (which would later be re-tooled into Ryu for the X-Men vs Street Fighter line), based on his design from the show, which was itself based on his ‘90s comics design.  It generally sticks to his classic green speedo look, with one notable change-up: a pretty rad ponytail!  Yeah, Imperius Rex needed to show off that he was hip, and cool, and down with it, so he got a pony tail.  The thing that’s always struck me about this mold is that he just sort of feels wide.  Or squat.  Or something.  The proportions seem off.  I do like the scale texturing on the shorts, though, and the little ankle wings work surprisingly well.  There’s a button on his back that, when pushed, extends his right arm forward, for something of a lunging attack if he’s hold his trident.  The figure’s color work is fine.  Generally basic, but it does what it needs to.  Mine’s taken a slight beating over the years, but it’s not awful.  Namor is packed with his trident and a shield, which can both be easily held in his hands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Namor is one of my earliest figures from this line.  Series 3 had just hit when I was getting into action figures, so he and the Thing were probably my first two FF figures, I’d imagine?  I actually already knew Namor pretty well at the time, because I had a bunch of VHS tapes with his Ruby-Spears cartoon on them, which gave him a decent amount of focus from me.  He was my only Namor until the Legends figure came out, and he definitely got a lot of play time.  He’s easily one of the most dated figures in the line, but he works in his own sort of quirky way.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0054: Gambit

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

GAMBIT

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

Hey, it’s Black Friday!  …which, for the purposes of this site directly…doesn’t really mean much.  You know what?  I’ll give you guys today’s Flashback Friday Figure Addendum free of charge.  How does that sound?  Like it’s the same cost as usual?  Well, yeah, sure.  But think of the value!  Anyway, here’s Gambit!

The ‘90s were quite good to the X-Men. They several top selling comics, a few video games, and a cartoon. But, most importantly, they had an awesome, hugely expansive line of action figures, courtesy of Toy Biz. Earlier figures in the line were fairly straightforward versions of the X-Men, but as the line continued, Toy Biz started experimenting with a number of different gimmicks to keep things interesting. The very first “gimmick series” gave each figure a light-up feature. Though light-up features weren’t new to the line, these figures were different in that, rather than lighting up themselves, they used a two-part light-up feature that allowed them to light up their accessories. Mostly, the series was just an excuse to release new versions of a few outdated figures. Today, I’ll be looking at Gambit from that series.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Gambit was released in the X-Men: Classic “Light-Up Weapons Series,” which was the 13th series of figures in Toy Biz’s 5-inch X-Men line. This was Gambit’s second figure in the line, after getting his first back in Series 3. The figure stands about 5 ½ inches tall and has 9 points of articulation. His articulation isn’t terrible, but the light-up feature’s inner workings are in his chest and right arm, which reduces the posablilty of the right shoulder quite a bit and also necessitates removing the usual elbow joints. Though the X-Men line was meant as a tie-in for the cartoon running at the same time, the figures tended to be more directly based on their comics appearances. Gambit actually looks to take a lot of influence from his Capcom game appearances, since he’s rather beefy and stylized. The overall look isn’t too bad, though it does seem like Gambit’s been juicing just a bit, since he’s usually more slender than he’s depicted here. He’s about to burst out of his sleeves for Pete’s sake! Also, his hands are absolutely huge, and if I’m honest the right one barely even looks like a hand at this point. The head exhibits the best sculpted work, and does quite a nice job of capturing Gambit’s smarmy personality. Gambit’s paint is fairly decent, if not fantastic. There’s a bit of slop here and there, especially on the fingers, and the pink lines on the sides of his pants are way more subtle than they should be. The color scheme they picked is once again pretty game-inspired, but it has a nice degree of pop, so no complaints here. Gambit included his usual staff, as well as a piece showing a fan of playing cards being kinetically charged, as if Gambit has just thrown them. The latter piece is the source of the light up feature. When plugged into Gambit’s right hand, the cards would light up at the push of the button on Gambit’s back.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This is another ‘90s X-Men figure that I’ve owned two of. The first was bought for me by my grandparents on my Mom’s side, I believe as a reward for finishing kindergarten. I got him and Juggernaut, but I think I mostly got Gambit because my grandparents felt I needed to get a “good guy” figure to go with the villain. Somewhere along the way, I lost that figure, so I picked up this replacement from a dealer at Balticon this year. He’s not a terrible figure, but he definitely shows his age. 

Well, honestly, that review’s really not bad.  Kind of hits all the important marks, and I stand by my assessment of the figure from the time.  He’s another figure that came from a large batch of Toy Biz figures I fished out of a big box of loose figures in the Baltic dealers room, literally the weekend after my college graduation in 2016.  None of them had any accessories, but the thing about this guy in particular is that I had one when they were new, and while I lost the figure proper, the accessories remained.  So, I simply united the two halves, and, boom, he’s got his staff and playing card effect again.  Yay for completeness!

#3964: Airspeeder with Airspeeder Pilot

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

AIRSPEEDER with AIRSPEEDER PILOT

STAR WARS: EXPANDED UNIVERSE (KENNER)

“A series of publications called The Art of Star Wars unveiled how a group of artists whose talent for intricacies revealed a far-away galaxy that continues to capture the imagination of Star Wars fans everywhere. Several versions of the Incom T-47 airspeeder, also known as the snowspeeder, were created before deciding on the definitive model seen in The Empire Strikes Back. This vehicle was designed and built based on several production sketches by artist Ralph McQuarrie.”

Following up on last week’s exploration of the “Expanded Universe” line’s vehicles, I’m doing…well, more of that.  Just really exactly that.  Yeah.  That’s it.  There were three of them.  I’ve looked at two.  Now, here’s the third.  Pretty cool, right.  Okay, here’s the Airspeeder and its accompanying pilot.

THE TOYS THEMSELVES

The Airspeeder with Airspeeder Pilot is the last of the three vehicle sets that accompanied the “Expanded Universe” sub-line of Kenner’s Star Wars: Power of the Force II, released in 1998.  This is yet another set based on Ralph McQuarrie’s concept work, and, much like last week’s Cloud Car, the Airspeeder is another Empire concept, the first draft of what would become the Snowspeeder in the final film.  The Snowspeeder isn’t a huge vehicle in the final film, but it *was* a two seater, where as the original design was meant only for a pilot, with no gunner seat.  As such, the ship’s about half the size, making it a tad smaller than the Cloud Car, though it’s a bit boxier and fuller than that design.  There’s actually still a lot of the final design present here, especially as it relates to the general shaping, making it pretty easy to tell what this was meant to be.  Like the Cloud Car, the Airspeeder gets a spring-loaded pop-out feature, where the rear engines go upward to make more distinctive wings, but I prefer it in its standard configuration.  There’s some decals to be applied to the vehicle to give it some of its smaller markings, and it also gets a missile for use with the launcher mounted on the underside of the vehicle.

The Airspeeder Pilot is, I guess, an early take on the updated Rebel pilot garb from Empire, presenting a more distinct deviation than we saw in the final product, ultimately creating something that feels more in line with what was ultimately worn by the ground troops.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  He doesn’t feel quite as diminutive as the other two pilots from this line, though he’s still a *little* small.  While the Cloud Car Pilot kept with the illustrations more stylistically, this figure is once more back to the general Power of the Force aesthetic.  That said, I do think it works a bit better here than it did with the smaller speeder pilot, and is just generally a nicer sculpt, with a lot of smaller work, and a surprising amount of character in the face.  The color work is easily lost, since it’s a lot of white, but it works out okay, and I do like the little splash of red and blue on the shoulder.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’m pretty sure I picked this set up at the same time as the Cloud Car.  I don’t remember much about getting either of them beyond that, and they’ve both been sitting in my office unopened since then, for at least a couple of years.  Like the Cloud Car, I opened this one for the purposes of writing the review.  I’m once again pleasantly surprised by the final product.  I think the Speeder Bike’s lackluster nature just really soured me on the whole set of these, which is a shame, because the other two vehicles and their matching figures really are just a lot better.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#3963: Talosian Keeper

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

TALOSIAN KEEPER

STAR TREK (PLAYMATES)

“After a disastrous mission on Rigel VII, the U.S.S. Enterprise received a distress call from survivors of the S.S. Columbia on Talos IV. The landing party found a group of aging scientists and a young woman named Vina. But it was all an illusion created by the mentally power Talosians. The used Vina to trap Christopher Pike and try to entice him into becoming part of their menagerie.  Their plan—to repopulate the surface destroyed thousands of centuries ago by a terrible war caused by their great illusory powers.

Living underground, the Talismans became addicted to their dreams. With a life span many times that of humans, they spend their time reliving their own memories and those of their zoo specimens.

Pike discovered the Talosians’ vulnerability—they couldn’t read primitive thoughts. After discovering that the humans would rather die than be held captive, the Talosians released Pike and his ship. They promised to never again trap humans—although it would probably doom the Talosians to extinction.”

Oh man, *more* Star Trek?  Is that legal?  Ah, who cares about legality these days!  We just do whatever we want, right?  Right.  I’m keeping the specific theming of figures based on the original Trek pilot “The Cage.”  I’ve looked at Pike, Vina, and Spock, but I’ve yet to look at the episode’s lead antagonist, The Talosian Keeper, keeper of all things Talosian.  Or, you know, at the very least all things Pike and Vina, for the purposes of the episode. Anyway, let’’s look at the figure!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Talosian Keeper was released as part of Playmates’ main Star Trek line in 1996, the last of the four figures released to celebrate the 30th anniversary of “The Cage.”  While there are multiple Talosians seen in the episode, this figure is specifically based on Meg Wylie’s performance as the lead Talosian, dubbed the Keeper.  The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  Movement’s really wonky and restricted on this figure.  There’s a swivel and hinge on both elbows, and a swivel at the base of each leg, but ultimately, the only ones that actually matter are the neck and shoulders.  Otherwise, he just stands there.  Which, I mean, that’s also all he does in the show (that and get strangled by Pike, but you don’t need articulation for that), so I guess it all works out.  The figure has a unique sculpt, which is generally fine.  It’s got its ups and downs.  It definitely feels a bit to bulky for Wylie as seen in the show, and in an odd turn of events for a Playmates Trek figure, the head actually seems a touch too small.  That said, the texturing on the robe is actually super nifty, even if the robe beneath the texturing does seem to hang a little bit odd.  The color work on this figure is solid.  It matches well with what’s seen on screen, application is nice and clean, and there’s a surprising amount of accenting on the head, which does a really nice job of capturing the make-up work seen on the show.  The Keeper is packed with a nourishment vial, gas sprayer, and view screen, as well as one of the then-standard display stands.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I’ve noted in the past, the only of the figures in this set I had personally as a kid was Pike, but I’m a big fan of “The Cage” and its unique cast, so I’ve made an effort to track them all down as an adult.  The Keeper was the third one I tracked down, rather shortly after getting Spock, snagged from an estate sale table at a local convention in the summer of 2018.  It’s noteworthy for being the only figure from this set that came into my possession in its original package, which it remained in until just before I sat down to write this review.  Common theme around here these days, huh? Yeah, well, I’m trying to take better stock of what I own, I guess.  Honestly, the figure looks fine, but it’s rough on play factor even for a Playmates Trek figure.

#3961: Annihilus

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

ANNIHILUS

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOY BIZ)

“An experimental spore, released on a planet in the anti-matter universe known as the Negative Zone rapidly grew, and developed into the insectivoid entity called Annihilus. Cosmic power, harnessed through a Control Rod, grants Annihilus super-human strength and extends his life to near immortality. With superior intelligence and a mastery of the alien technology that spawned him, Annihilus has dedicated his existence to conquering any being that threatens his insane quest for power.”

Last month, I was discussing Blastaar, one of the more notable denizens of the Negative Zone, a deposed ruler who faced down with the Fantastic Four on multiple occasions.  The ruler who deposed him, who became an even more persistent thorn in the FF, and many more heroes’ sides, is Annihilus, the bug-like guy to Blastaar’s simian-like guy.  Annihilus has certainly been the more prevalent of the two when it comes to toy coverage, being the FF’s second villain to be released during the Marvel Super Heroes line, and then also getting a follow-up during the proper Fantastic Four line, which I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Annihilus was released in Series 3 of Toy Biz’s Fantastic Four line, amusing because he was also a Series 3 release for Marvel Super Heroes.  He followed up on Blastaar’s release in Series 2.  The figure stands about 5 1/4 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  He lacks neck articulation, but gets a hinge on his wings, sans he flapping feature present on the prior version.  While the MSH figure was rather on the scrawny side, this one follows the look he had on the show, where he was a bit more bulked up.  He’s certainly a lot wider.  The sculpt was all-new and all unique, and it’s pretty solid.  The best work is on the head, which gets some clean line-work.  Said head can be removed from the main body, showing a smaller, curled up body, which is presumably the “transforming mutant” feature advertised on the packaging.  The figure’s coloring is the appropriate mix of green and…well, it’s not quite purple, it’s more of a mauve?  It’s the color he usually gets.  Color work is basic, but gets the job done, and the paint’s pretty clean, if perhaps a it uneven on some of the edges.  Annihilus is packed with a pair of spiky removable shoulder pads, for all your spiky removable shoulder pad-related needs.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Annihilus here is another addition to my collection from my early 2000s trip to the KB Toys liquidation center.  I didn’t know him much before owning the figure, but getting this guy prompted me to find out more about him.  Ultimately, he’s not a character that’s really stuck with me, but I do think he’s got a killer visual, and I like his older appearances.  I like the MSH figure, but he’s dated.  Of the two, this one’s the stronger figure, and he’s certainly got a neat presence on the shelf.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0053: Captain Christopher Pike

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

CAPTAIN CHRISTOPHER PIKE

STAR TREK (PLAYMATES)

It’s a crazy thing going on here, because not only did I write a Star Trek review earlier this week, but now I’m also dedicating a whole Flashback Friday Figure Addendum to the franchise, which is totally a first here!  I’m keeping in theme with the “Cage” based offering from this week’s main review, with a follow-up on my review of Captain Christopher Pike!

“After a disastrous mission on Rigel VII, Captain Christopher Pike diverted the U.S.S. Enterprise to Talos IV after receiving a distress call from survivors of S.S. Columbia. On the Talosian surface, the landing party found a group of aging scientists and a young woman named Vina. But it was all an illusion.

Vina led Pike into a trap set by the Talosians living underground. Imprisoned in a menagerie, they were to begin repopulation of the surface. Pike learned to fight the Talosians’ mental power, filling his mind with primitive thoughts they could not block.

After discovering that the humans would rather die than be held captive, the Talosians released Pike and his ship. Vina, the only true survivor of the Columbia, remained with the Talosians. The captain recommended to Starfleet that Talos IV be placed off limits.”

Star Trek reviews are certainly a rarity around here. It’s not that I don’t like the franchise, but I don’t know that I enjoy it as much as a lot of other people. What I do like from the franchise tends to be rather TOS-centric. My favorite ship’s captain from the franchise, Captain Christopher Pike, comes from that era, although with some technicalities, I suppose, since he’s not a main captain by the point of the actual show, instead serving as the main character of “The Cage,” the show’s first pilot. When the network didn’t pick up the show based on that pilot, lead actor Jeffery Hunter backed out, and Pike was replaced as captain of the Enterprise by William Shatner’s Kirk for the series proper. Much of the footage from “The Cage” was then worked into the series proper as the extended flashback that makes up the bulk of “The Menagerie,” so there’s at least *some* Pike. That’s better than none. It also makes him a good pick for merch! Yeah, the merch! Let’s look at some of that.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Captain Christopher Pike was released in 1996 under Playmates’ combined Star Trek line, which gave a mix of all of the shows up to that point. He was part of the fifth series of that set-up, and was released, alongside a Spock variant, Vena, and the Talosian Keeper, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of “The Cage.” The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation. Pike has the line’s standard articulation set-up. Not exactly the best scheme, and I never cared much for those silly v-hips, but it is what it is. They were at least consistent by this point. Pike’s structure is pretty similar to the rest of the standard TOS Starfleet officers. That being said, he’s notably a little skinnier than the others, which I’m not sure is entirely accurate. Of course, it’s not like any of the proportions were all that accurate on any of these figures, so it’s all kind of a toss up. The likeness on these figures were rarely spot-on, and Pike’s not an exception. Playmates did three Pike figures with Hunter’s likeness; this one’s the weakest of those three, but it was, at least, still not a terrible offering. He’s got at least a hint of who he’s supposed to be. The head does seem a tad large relative to the rest of the body, but that was common with these figures. The body sculpt is rather on the basic side; there’s a little bit of detailing on his collar, but he’s otherwise without any real details of note, making him a softer sculpt than even the rest of the line. Pike’s paint work is likewise basic. The eyes are the best work, and the lips aren’t bad either. The hair on mine has seen better days, but that’s not so much Playmates’ fault. Other than that, he’s very basic and very shiny. Pike was packed with his “Starfleet Hand Laser”, communicator, shield, and spear, all molded in the same sort of indigo shade, as well as a display stand. Of all the parts, mine only has the stand these days.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure started out as my dad’s. He got it new, back when I was a kid. I was always fascinated by “The Menagerie” and Pike in particular, so I would borrow this guy all the time, and he wound up taking a bit of a beating. That scuff on the hair happened pretty early on, and it was around that time that my dad realized he wasn’t going to shake me off of this one, so he bought himself a replacement and let me keep this one. Of my meager Trek collection, he was always a favorite of mine. He’s dated and goofy, but I dig it.

This review is one of the slew of reviews I prepped in advance of my daughter Aubrey being born, which ran in the month following her birth, while I was getting pretty much no sleep at all.  As opposed to now, where I get *oh so much* of it.  I did a lot of deep dives into older figures, since it meant I could write them whenever and not worry about them sitting on the shelf for too long before running them.  This one was late in the prep, and was ultimately written about three months before it ran.  With all the prep work, I do still think it kind of holds up.

Missing from the original review were most of this guy’s accessories, which I have subsequently replaced.  So, now he’s got his phaser, communicator, shield, and spear, which are all in the same shade of indigo.  I don’t know *why* they’re indigo, but it’s fine.  It’s also a nice little cross-section of items from his one episode, so I can definitely dig it.

#3960: Cloud Car with Cloud Car Pilot

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

CLOUD CAR with CLOUD CAR PILOT

STAR WARS: EXPANDED UNIVERSE (KENNER)

“Cloud cars are atmospheric vessels that employ both repulsorlifts and ion engines, filling the important gap between airspeeders and starfighters. Functional in many ways, twin-cockpit, patrol cars escorted the Millennium Falcon and her crew onto Cloud City during The Empire Strikes Back. It was here that Darth Vader had Han Solo frozen in carbonite while Princess Leia, Chewbacca, and C-3PO were held prisoners of the Empire. This single cockpit cloud car was designed and built based on production sketches found in The Art of Star Wars; its brainchild was renown Star Wars artist, Ralph McQuarrie.”

Back in early 2021, I wrapped up the last review of the standard “Expanded Universe” figures from Kenner’s Power of the Force run.  I was, however not *truly* done with the “Expanded Universe” sub-line, because in addition to the nine standard figures, there were also three smaller-scale vehicles, each including their own unique figure.  The slight switch up there is that, rather than go proper Expanded Universe, the vehicles were all early concept designs.  Thus far, I’ve reviewed one of those, a fact I almost forgot because I found the set so “meh” that it continues to leave virtually no mark on my memory.  Perhaps today’s offering will fair a bit better?  I sure hope so.  Here’s the Cloud Car and its associated pilot!

THE TOYS THEMSELVES

The Cloud Car with Cloud Car Pilot was released alongside the rest of the “Expanded Universe” sub-line of Star Wars: Power of the Force II in 1998.  As noted in the bio, this set is based on illustrations by Ralph McQuarrie as part of Empire’s pre-production, making it, I believe, the earliest McQuarrie-based item in the toyline.  This was the largest of the three vehicles, though not by a ton.  It’s about 6 inches long and about 4 inches tall.  While the Cloud Cars seen in the final film are a rather odd twin cockpit design, the initial look was a more conventional single-seater.  It’s actually not a bad little design, with a very fun futuristic vibe that’s very clean.  It doesn’t feel like it’s totally out of place with the final design, either, so perhaps it was still there, just elsewhere?  It certainly feels like more of an older, Clone Wars-era design.  The toy does a nice job translating it, and working in a number of fun playable features, so it can be fully collapsed or deploy the wings.  It’s even got a rather clever missile launcher design, which isn’t too obvious or silly.

The Cloud Car’s pilot is a unique figure, and not really at all like the established Cloud Car pilot from the film, largely because he’s not actually based on a pilot design, but rather a more generalized Bespin citizen, presumably an early version of the Bespin Guards.  The figure stands just shy of 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  Like the last pilot I looked at from this line, this guy feels a bit small compared to the rest of the line.  Of course, he also feels like he’s from a different line entirely, just in terms of styling.  He’s more angular and cartoonish, again a bit more like a Clone Wars character, or perhaps Rebels.  In contrast to the Rebel Pilot, I feel like this stylization helps him to keep the original charm of the design, making for a generally more entertaining figure.  His paint work is a bit of a departure from the usual Star Wars shades, making it rather eye-catching and different.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I don’t recall much about this set, or really much about getting it.  I know it was part of a larger purchase, and more than likely I grabbed it at the same time as the other vehicle I was missing.  It’s also been sitting unopened for a good while, continuing the theme of all of my recent Power of the Force reviews.  There was more reason this time, because the speeder bike was so underwhelming, and I just wasn’t sure about this one.  I’m happy to say, this one’s a pleasant departure from the earlier set, and I actually found it to be an immensely enjoyable set.

Shoutout to my friends at All Time Toys, from whom I purchased this figure for review!  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.