Tag Archives: 90s

#3359: Captain Christopher Pike

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

CAPTAIN CHRISTOPHER PIKE

STAR TREK (PLAYMATES)

“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.

#3355: Cyclops

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

CYCLOPS

X-MEN: SECRET WEAPON FORCE (TOY BIZ)

“In an alternate universe very different from the one the X-Men come from, Cyclops acts on his own. Friend or foe, do not get in the way of Cyclops’ powerful optic blasts. With but the blink of an eye, Cyclops can punch a hole through the thickest walls or blast an opponent from the sky. Cyclops’ War Tank Battle Blaster is always at his side ready to unleash its secret weapon on any unsuspecting foes. Cyclops seems to be united against the evil mutant Apocalypse, but has yet to join forces with Wolverine and Jean Grey. Only time will tell if the three heroic X-Men will reunite for one final, ultimate battle.”

By the late ’90s, Toy Biz’s long-running 5-inch Marvel imprint had moved away from purely comics and cartoon adaptations, with their main lines based on Spider-Man and X-Men both getting a more toyetic flair.  In 1998, the X-Men line got the subtitle “Secret Weapon Force,” which meant plenty of wacky variants for the main characters.  The first assortment under this banner placed Wolverine, Cyclops, and Jean Grey in a *very* loosely AoA-inspired setting, with Cyclops in particular taking the “loosely” part of that to heart.  But hey, cool Cyclops is cool Cyclops.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cyclops was released in the “Battle Blaster” series of Toy Biz’s X-Men: Secret Weapon Force line.  Where Jean was a straight-forward AoA Jean (with the slight irony of the package backstory saying she was actually the main universe Jean transported), the other three figures in the set differed a bit in their own ways.  Cyclops was perhaps the most different, since his design had little to nothing in common with the AoA look for the character, instead being more closely linked to the standard Cyclops look.  That being said, this figure sports a design that has no direct comics or cartoon source; he’s instead a toy unique look.  It’s honestly not a bad one, and it’s a little surprising that it never got worked in anywhere over the years.  The figure stands a little over 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  The entire Battle Blaster assortment was largely based around what Toy Biz could do with minimal new parts.  For Cyclops’ part, it means he’s almost entirely a re-use of the 2099 line’s Meanstreak figure.  The only difference between the two is the presence of a new visor, sculpted over Meanstreak’s face.  It’s a change that works surprisingly well.  It helps that the Meanstreak sculpt is honestly a pretty good one, meaning that he’s just a very playable figure.  The character specific elements are really kept to a minimum, with only the boots and gauntlets feeling very unique; even then, they read more generically ’90s X-Men anyway, so they still work fine for Scott.  His paint scheme goes for a rather different look for Scott.  There’s notably no blue, which is interesting, but also keeps him further from the Meanstreak origins of the mold, so it makes a degree of sense.  My figure’s paint has taken a beating over the years, as you can see, but he still looks pretty good all things considered.  Cyclops, like the rest of the assortment, was packed with his “Secret Weapon Force” weapon, which is dubbed a “War Tank Battle Blaster.”  It’s big and goofy, and curiously not color coordinated with the figure at all.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was a very big Cyclops fan as a kid, and jumped at any chance for a new version of him in toy form, so I made a point of getting this figure early after his release, during a trip to the nearest KB Toys with my Grandmother.  I remember being very excited for him, and he spent a good while as my default version of Scott, even with the non-standard costume.  He’s a fun figure.  Just a good, fun figure.  And still one of my favorite Cyclopses, honestly.

#3352: Ruber

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

RUBER

QUEST FOR CAMELOT (HASBRO)

“A fallen knight who had been kicked out of Camelot, Ruber believes his destiny is to become the King of England at any cost. Vicious and mean to the core, Ruber sends his Griffin to steal Excalibur, King Arthur’s enchanted sword. Ruber then uses Black Magic to create an unstoppable army of mutant weapons to invade Camelot and destroy the king.  Before Ruber can carry out his wicked plans, his Griffin loses Excalibur somewhere in the Forbidden Forest. It’s a race for Excalibur and the power to rule the kingdom of Camelot!”

Warner Brothers’ failed attempt at getting in on the Disney animated feature market, 1998’s Quest For Camelot, may not have been a smash success, but it sure did put in the effort.  One of Disney’s biggest selling points for their fantasy genre films was how impressively charismatic and over the top their villains were, and Gary Oldman’s Ruber is certainly well-suited to that group.  He’s just so hammy and fun, and, thanks to Oldman being one of the few cast members to perform both the voice acting and the singing, he’s perhaps the one character in the movie who doesn’t feel like he’s in two different films depending on whether he’s singing or not.  As the film’s main antagonist (as well as its most memorable part), he found himself amongst the modest tie-in toy offerings, with an action figure I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Ruber was released in the six-figure assortment that made up the basic figure portion of Hasbro’s Quest For Camelot tie-in line.  Ruber is based on his fully armored appearance from after the film’s time skip, which is his primary look, so that makes a lot of sense.  The figure stands about 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation.  He lacks the neck joint that Garrett and Arthur both had, and also gets no extra joints at the waist or wrist like they did, making him a rather stiff figure.  It’s more a design thing, though, so it’s not awful.  The sculpt is more faithful to the source material than the other two, keeping his more cartoony proportions and exaggerated features.  That said, he still gets a lot more added texturing, keeping him consistent with the rest of the line’s stylings.  I continue to be impressed by how much detailing Hasbro put into the sculpts, given how streamlined the movie’s animation models were.  Ruber’s paint work is rather basic, as is expected.  All the standard colors are there, but there’s not really much accenting.  They did at least do the shadowing on his eyes, which keeps him truer to his movie look, and the rest of the application is pretty cleanly handled.  Ruber got perhaps the most film accurate selection of extras for his figure, with his helmet, shield, and “Armor Crushing Battle Mace.”  In a perfect world, I’d love to get his cloak, or maybe an alternate right arm with Excalibur affixed to it, but that wasn’t really how things went at the time.  What we got is pretty awesome.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got Arthur and Garrett both before the movie, but Ruber I got after seeing it in theaters.  I wasn’t a big villains kid growing up, but I really dug Ruber.  His look was just very imposing, and this figure wound up being my go-to villain for a *lot* of my other heroes.  He’s another rather solidly done figure from a surprisingly good, and unfortunately overlooked toyline.  He’s the last of the three I got as a kid, and I kinda want to actually finish out the set at some point.

#3350: Spider-Woman

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

SPIDER-WOMAN

IRON MAN (TOY BIZ)

“Single mother and Stark Enterprises Vice President, Julia Carpenter conceals a fantastic secret: she possesses the ability to weave psionic webs, and has the strength, speed and agility of a spider! Now, in the guise of Spider-Woman, Julia is determined to turn her astonishing abilities to the downfall of the Mandarin and his sinister schemes of conquest!”

Since Iron Man is a character that’s had a spotty track record with supporting casts over the years, when it came time to give him a cartoon in the ’90s, the show had to sort of make due with the super team he was running around with at the time.  Unfortunately, it was during the brief period of time where that team *wasn’t* the Avengers, and was, instead “Force Works,” a replacement for the Avengers West Coast team, which lasted an astonishingly long 22 issues.  Force Works adopted most of the remaining West Coast line-up, which included Julia Carpenter, the second Spider-Woman, who wound up as one of the members chosen to get the largest focus in the Iron Man cartoon, even remaining in the show when the rest of the team left during the show’s second season.  She got a figure out of the deal, as well, and I’m taking a look at that one today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spider-Woman was released in the first series of Toy Biz’s Iron Man line, as not only this series, but in fact the whole line’s only female figure.  Fellow team member Scarlet Witch was less fortunate (a streak that would continue for United They Stand‘s tie-in line), as was the villainess Hypnotia (who remains without any action figures to this day).   The figure stands 5 inches tall and she has 6 points of articulation.  I’ve looked at Julia’s sculpt previously, once in its slightly modified form as Jessica Drew, and also in its completely repainted form as the Invisible Woman.  Apart from issues with the articulation, it’s actually not a half-bad sculpt, and its only flaw when used for Sue was the lack of eyes, which isn’t a problem here.  Other than that, it’s a rather nice, rather balanced sculpt.  The figure’s paint work is decent enough; to keep with her animation look, there’s a slight purple shade to the “black” sections of her costume, which actually doesn’t look half bad.  The application is a little fuzzy in some spots, but it certainly could be worse.  Julia was packed with her Psionic Webs, which were a big goofy purple thing, as well as an ID badge with her bio on it.  She also got an action feature; there’s a lever on her back, which flips her arms up rather spastically.  It was meant to be a “Psionic Web Hurling Action” according to the package, but it really just looks like she’s flipping over a table or celebrating a touch down or something.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Spider-Woman is a figure that I don’t vividly recall getting.  I know she was still new when I got her, and that she was more than likely a gift, probably for either my birthday or Christmas.  I’d guess she came from my parents, since they’re the most likely culprits for purchasing her.  She’s one of those ones that I just recall always being in my collection.  She’s honestly a pretty solid figure, just start to finish.

#3347: King Arthur

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

KING ARTHUR

QUEST FOR CAMELOT (HASBRO)

“Several years before the Quest for Camelot began, an unexpected hero stepped forward to pull the magical sword Excalibur from its stone to become the rightful King of England. That hero was Arthur, who grew into a brave and noble king, commanding the respect and loyalty of the Knights of the Round Table. With the magic of Excalibur and the wisdom of his chief advisor, Merlin, Arthur built Camelot into a peaceful, wealthy kingdom. Now he must give his all to protect his people from the evil of Ruber.”

In 1998, Warner Brothers tried to more directly compete with Disney’s resurgence in popularity of their animated features.  The resulting creation, Quest for Camelot, was something of a mixed product.  Originally beginning as a rather straight forward animated feature based on Arthurian mythology, in order to push the Disney competition a bit further, Warner took the finished film, and decided it needed to be a musical…so they added a bunch of songs to it.  Both parts of the movie are quite well done, but they don’t exactly mesh so well, and the movie didn’t really find an audience during its theatrical run.  It’s gained something of a cult following in the years since its release.  Amongst other things, it’s got a pretty impressive voice cast, which included Pierce Brosnan as an older King Arthur.  Arthur isn’t the main character of the piece, but he’s prominent enough that he got himself a figure in the brief tie-in line that Hasbro put out for the movie, and I’m taking a look at that figure today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

King Arthur is part of the six figure line-up for Hasbro’s Quest for Camelot tie-in toyline.  He’s based on his standard kingly attire from the film, which makes sense, since I do believe it’s all he actually wears (well, ignoring the flashback to him pulling the sword from the stone).  It’s rather unassuming for a king, but that’s kind of Arthur’s beat, I suppose.  The figure stands just shy of 6 inches tall and he has 8 points of articulation.  As I discussed when I reviewed Garrett, the height on this line is fairly standard these days, but was curiously large for a ’90s line, since they tended to skew a bit smaller.  He’s decently articulated for the era, though nothing to write home about these days.  Honestly, the only things that are notably absent are elbow joints, and he does at least slightly cheat those with that partial bend that’s sculpted in.  In my review of Garrett, I remarked that the actual Quest animation models were quite streamlined and basic, but that the figures added a lot more detailing, to take advantage of the larger scale.  While Arthur doesn’t go quite as in depth as Garrett, he’s still got a fair bit going on, while still matching up pretty well to the animated design for the character.  His color work is largely fairly basic.  It’s clean, and pretty sharp, and I do quite like the metallic finish for the arms and legs.  Arthur was packed with his sword Excalibur, as well as five different add-on armor pieces.  The armor’s not anything he actually had in the movie, but it’s never the less pretty fun, and has a lot of nifty details.  My figure is missing Excalibur and one of the shin guards, but is otherwise still quite well armored.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

King Arthur was the first of the Quest For Camelot figures I got.  I was on a big Arthurian kick at the time, and he was a King Arthur figure, so, you know, it’s hard to not get on board with that.  I believe that I got him while I was out with my Dad, presumably during an errand or something.  He’s fun.  I mean, the whole line is, really.  It’s kind of crazy the effort that went into these figures, given how the movie ultimately panned out, performance wise.  I certainly don’t mind cool figures, though.

#3346: Cadet Data

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

CADET DATA

STAR TREK: WARP FACTOR (PLAYMATES)

So, umm, apparently I haven’t reviewed any Playmates Star Trek here on the site since back in 2017.  Wild.  I mean, I don’t have a ton of them or anything, but that does still feel like further back than I’d expected.  I mean, I guess that’s what happens when you get ruled out on being a fan of the franchise.  Like, I just didn’t like it enough, so I guess I don’t really count?  Yeah, that’s definitely it.  Well, I’m still gonna review some figures occasionally, even if I’m some sort of dirty non-fan.  So, here we are.  When Playmates first started with Star Trek, all of the shows were divided up into their own lines, and there were even a few more on top of that.  The Next Gen line got its own brief spin-off in 1996, Starfleet Academy, which dud figures of that show’s main cast as they might have appeared during their academy days…ignoring the fact that they’re differing ages would mean that most of them, you know, wouldn’t have interacted at all.  But sure.  The initial spin-off ran only one series of four figures, but three additional figures were folded into Playmates’ Warp Factor line, which served as their main Trek line, servicing all parts of the franchise.  Amongst that second round was Data, a character that canonically didn’t actually look any younger in his Cadet days…but he gets a new outfit!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Cadet Data was released in Series 3 of the Star Trek: Warp Factor line, in an assortment which also featured the Cadet versions of Troi and Crusher, as Mirror Spock and Edith Keeler.  As with all of the Academy figures that Playmates produced, Data’s design isn’t based on anything actually canon or anything, and instead just sticks Data in this new looking thing.  The first assortment all got cool descriptors for what exactly the purpose of the new suits was supposed to be, but that was dropped for the second round.  Alas, no cool explanation for this one.  The figure stands about 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation.  He’s sporting the standard articulation scheme for the line, which always had its pluses and minuses.  The upper half is decent, especially on the arms, but the hips are unfortunately those weird v-hips, which make it virtually impossible for him to do much other than stand or sit in some sort of weird split configuration.  Since Data was unaging, this figure used the same head sculpt as most of the standard Datas for the line; it had an okay likeness of Brent Spiner, and was honestly a pretty respectable piece across the board.  The rest of the figure’s mold was an all-new affair.  He’s wearing some sort of jumpsuit, with some webgear.  It’s all rather basic, and fairly unassuming.  His proportions do have him just a little smaller here than on other figures of the character, but that was true of the line as a whole; the figures kind of slimmed a bit as they moved along.  In terms of coloring, Data is quite monochromatic.  The outfit is a very dark brown, accented by a slightly lighter, but still rather dark brown, with some grey for the gear.  It’s not terribly eye catching, but it does honestly look pretty cool.  Of course, it also has him read a bit more as Lore than as Data, but that’s a minor thing.  Data was packed with a wrist communicator, two styles of phaser thing, a tricorder, and a Starfleet Academy display stand.  Mine has lost everything but the display stand.  Typical of those careless cadets, out there losing all their stuff.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember finding the first series of the Academy line somewhere in some bargain bin as a kid, and being frustrated that there was no Data.  This was before the internet was quite as expansive a resource as it is these days, so I didn’t actually know about this figure until seeing him in one of the included booklets with another figure from the line.  And then, you know, I found him at my usual go-to vendor at the local cons, and, well, here we are.

#3344: Silverbolt

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

SILVERBOLT

BEAST WARS (KENNER)

“Shadows of mystery cloak this silent and proud warrior. Part wolf, part eagle, Silverbolt possesses all the attributes of a great lone warrior: speed, power, wisdom, intelligence. His uncanny ability to track and then ferociously overcome Predacons by himself, only to suddenly disappear into the backdrop has inspired myths describing a fierce winged warrior who has come to defeat their evil ranks one by one. Preferring to work alone, Silverbolt is a ferociously intelligent fighter: extremely dexterous, he seems to be everywhere at once, striking with fearsome talons and firing hidden point-missiles from his wing tips to ultimately surface victorious.”

After being largely focused on machines that turned into other machines for their first decade and some change, in 1996, the Transformers brand reconfigured into Beast Wars, which gave the robots in disguise a bunch of animal-inspired alt-modes, as well as a prehistoric setting.  After rather quiet reception for Generation 2, Beast Wars rather revitalized the brand, and even brought in a lot of new fans.  It had a rather strong four year run as a toyline, as well as a rather successful tie-in cartoon running at the same time.  Both of those also had a follow-up in the form of Beast Machines, but nobody really likes to talk about those.  The whole “Beast” thing is getting worked into the live action films this year, with a number of the characters playing pivotal roles in Rise of the Beasts.  But we’re not here to talk about that today.  No, today, we’re talking about “Fuzors.”  See, while the early run characters were all just one lame animal (totally objective fact, there, by the way), the Fuzors were *two* animals fused together!  The best of the bunch (again, objective fact) was the Maximal Silverbolt, who I’m looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Silverbolt was part of the first Deluxe Class Fuzors wave of Beast Wars, which was released in 1998.  He was one half of the wave, with the Predacon Sky Shadow being the other half.  In his robot mode, Silverbolt stands about 5 1/2 inches tall and he has 11 practical points of articulation.  Due to the nature of his transformation, there are a few spots where he can get a little extra movement from joints that aren’t really meant for articulation, but it’s all pretty minor adjustments.  His movement wasn’t terrible, which was honestly something that was pretty consistent for Beast Wars.  They certainly weren’t as focused on just the transformation as the G1 stuff was.  Compared to more modern stuff, he’s a little stiff, of course, but 25 years removed, it’s not so bad.  The sculpt is a bit rudimentary, but again not bad.  It tracked well with the animation model he got on the show, especially when it came to the head sculpt.  That said, the proportions do look kind of wonky; the torso is particularly blocky, and the limbs are a bit chunky.  He’s also got a fair bit of kibble on the upper half, with his back legs just sort of hanging off the elbows, and the wings not really folding into the main body, instead just sort of sticking straight out from the back.  It’s a little awkward.  There are also a lot of rather obvious joints and hinges in the robot mode, which breaks up the flow a bit.  His color scheme was predominately the grey he was molded in, with a healthy helping of bronze and darker grey accenting.  It was all pretty cleanly applied, and pretty solid for the era, and it’s held up well over time.  Silverbolt was packed with two feather “missiles” that, in robot mode, were meant to sort of be swords.  They looked more like clubs, but that’s neither here nor there, because I don’t have them anyway.  Silverbolt’s alt-mode, the source of his “Fuzor” title, was a wolf and an eagle, making him a pseudo griffin type thing.  It’s a fun mode, and his transformation into it is a pretty well-engineered one.  In the beast mode, a lot of the uglier parts of the sculpt are hidden, and his overall look is a lot more cohesive…which is actually kind of ironic, since he’s supposed to be a merging of two rather different things.  In this mode, the missiles would go at the ends of his wings, and moving the wings inward would fire the missiles.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was not super into Beast Wars as a kid.  I watched the show, but really only because it was between other things I liked to watch, and I didn’t change the channel.  I owned exactly two of the toys as a kid.  One of them was a gift, so I didn’t have much say in it, and the other was this guy.  I actually quite liked Silverbolt; he’s the only character from the series that I have any sort of attachment to, and as a kid I actually made a point of tracking down his toy.  That one took quite a beating over the years, and ultimately wound up a few limbs shy of where he should have been.  The one reviewed here was actually not mine originally, but was instead Max’s.  He was sorting through several large bins of his old Transformers, and this was one of a few figures that he fished out and gifted to me.  He shows his age to be sure, but I do still really love the figure.

#3325: Kang

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

KANG

AVENGERS: UNITED THEY STAND (TOY BIZ)

“A villain with a twisted mind, Kang believes that by time traveling he will eventually conquer the world and change history in his name. As one of the Avengers’ most dangerous villains, Kang has often used his vast knowledge of time and dimensional travel to escape their heroic grasp.”

Remember back when, like, nobody knew who Kang the Conqueror was?  Pepperidge Farm remembers.  And also, I remember.  Avengers Forever, which is one of the best Kang stories out there, has been getting a lot of attention recently, and is notably my first real interaction with the character in the comics.  My first interaction with the character in general, however, was a little show by the name of Avengers: United They Stand, which gave Kang a self-titled focus episode.  It also gave Kang his second ever action figure, which is what I’m taking a look at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Kang was released in the second series of Toy Biz’s Avengers: United They Stand tie-in line.  As I’ve brought up before, both series of the line were released simultaneously in 1999, in order to properly launch (most of) the team, alongside a few foes, right as the show launched.  Ultron was the villain for the first series, while Kang was in that spot for the second.  Kang’s an interesting choice for the second villain in the context of the show, seeing as he’s only got one episode of the run, but given his prominence as a classic Avengers foe, and he was certainly set up for additional appearances, so it’s not the strangest option.  This marked Kang’s only figure during Toy Biz’s 5-inch days.  The figure stands roughly 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  Kang’s articulation scheme is astoundingly limiting.  Like, how did they manage to make it this inefective?  The rest of the line was honestly pretty good at mobility, but Kang’s only really practical motion is the neck joint.  His shoulders neither one gets a full spin, there are no elbows, and the hips are some sort of weird, almost flat attempt at a v-hip.  He does get knees and ankles, but without the hips, they don’t really do much.  I guess he’s at least able to be fairly stable on his feet?  Sure, let’s go with that.  Kang’s sculpt was a completely new one.  For the most part, the UTS figures were quite faithful to their animated counterparts, but Kang’s a noted exception to that.  Instead of the mouthless mask from the show, he’s got a bald and blue head.  His build is also much smaller than he was depicted on the show.  The rest of the costume details do at least track pretty close to the show’s look, and he’s pretty crisply detailed.  Ultimately, he falls victim to the same thing as Hawkeye, where he was based on an earlier model sheet for the character.  Unlike Hawkeye, his change wasn’t easily fixed with paint.  The paint work on this guy is a little brighter than the show look, but he does get a cool metallic purple…albeit one that doesn’t match perfectly from piece to piece.  Kang was packed with two swords, which he could store on his back, as well as an orb containing a miniature Wasp, similar to how he traps her in the episode.  The orb plugs into the left hand, which completes the circuit running through the arm, allowing it to light up when the button on his chest is pressed.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Kang is officially the final United They Stand figure I got.  I was down to my last three figures (Ant-Man, Wasp, and this guy), and my Grandmother had asked me for a list of the three I needed.  Ant-Man was the first she got me, followed by Wasp.  Kang was the last one I needed, so she took me to Target after picking me up from school, and I officially rounded out my set.  He’s an interesting figure, because all of the independent factors seem to point to a figure that’s not so great.  That said, I actually still really like this figure, for whatever it is he may be.

#3320: Jean Grey

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

JEAN GREY

X-MEN: SECRET WEAPON FORCE (TOY BIZ)

“Trapped in an alternate universe, Jean Grey wages a battle against Omega, one of Apocalypse’s minions. One of the most powerful mutant telepaths on the planet, Jean Grey has teamed up with Wolverine to put an end to Apocalypse’s diabolical plans once and for all. With her transforming Catapult Tank Blaster, Jean has a secret weapon that can send any opponent down for the count!”

By 1997, Toy Biz’s X-Men line had firmly moved away from purely comics-based figures, and was fully venturing into the “wacky variants” territory.  Assortments moved to a generally themed nature, with that theme usually being some sort of gimmick.  Both X-Men and Spider-Man took on an underlying line rebranding in ’98, with the X-Men one being
“Secret Weapon Force.”  Though the main purpose of these assortments was have an excuse for wacky variants, Toy Biz did at least throw peopled a bit of a bone, and tried to make some of those variants line-up with something actually from the comics.  In the case of today’s figure, Jean Grey, it allowed them to give her “Age of Apocalypse” look some coverage, after it had been left out of the proper tie-in assortment for the storyline.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Jean Grey was released in the “Battle Blaster” series of Toy Biz’s re-branded X-Men: Secret Weapon Force line.  The four figures in the assortment were all loosely AoA-themed, with the pretense of this being our Jean trapped in an alternate universe.  Jean was the most straight forward of the bunch, at least in terms of design.  The figure stands about 5 inches tall and she has 5 points of articulation.  Jean marked the second use of the Monster Armor Mystique body, which would become one of Toy Biz’s favorites in the later 5-inch run.  She uses the main body, sans the skirt, with a new head sculpt (though the prototype on the back of the box was just a straight repaint).  The new head is a decent match to her AoA look in the comics, so that’s pretty decent.  The body’s not terrible, though I’m not a huge fan of the enormous right hand, or its general lack of posing.  Also, this release kept the etched-in lines from Mystique’s gloves and boots, which don’t line up with Jean’s costume details.  Jean’s paint work was generally okay.  It follows her look from the comics fairly closely.  Some of the details are a little fuzzy, especially on the costume.  I do like the tattoo on the face, though.  She’s also got a “Secret Weapon Force” insignia on her leg, which isn’t true to the original design, but is still a little cool, honestly.  Jean was packed with her “Secret Weapon Force” secret weapon, which was a Catapult Tank Blaster.  Given the sheer size of this thing, I’m not clear on just how she manages to keep it “secret,” but she *is* a telepath, I suppose.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Despite being a main character for the franchise, by this point in the X-Men line, Jean Grey figures were still rather rare.  If you saw one, you got it.  That’s just how it was.  I wanted a non-Phoenix Jean, and this was my only real option at the time, so you know I went out there and got one…with my Grandmother’s money, most likely.  I know I got the Cyclops from this set first because, well, Cyclops, but Jean was a fairly close second.  Gotta have those two together, right?  She’s not a bad figure, I guess.  I mean, not great, but also not bad.  It was a nice way for Toy Biz to get this variant of Jean out there and continue the AoA line-up just a little bit more.

#3315: Quicksilver

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

QUICKSILVER

X-MEN (TOY BIZ)

“The speedster known as Quicksilver belongs to a family of strong mutants, his sister is the Scarlet Witch and his father is Magneto! Quicksilver spend the early part of his career as a member of Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, before realizing his powers would best be put to use for the good of all Mankind. Since that time, Quicksilver has been a member of several super-teams, including X-Factor and the Avengers!”

Though he hasn’t quite made the lasting impressing that his twin sister has in recent years, Quicksilver is still certainly in a better spot than he was back before 2014.  Nowadays, he’s almost a household name…well, one of him is, anyway.  Not sure which.  Probably not the comics one, but that’s the one I’m looking at anyway, so let’s just stick with that.  Anyway, here’s a Quicksilver, I guess.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Quicksilver was released in the infamous “Muntant Armor” series of Toy Biz’s X-Men line.  There were two variants of Quicksilver available, one in his classic blue and white costume and one in his his then-current white and grey one.  Back in 2015, I looked at the white and grey, so today’s review focusses on the blue and white.  The figure stands about 5 inches tall and he has 11 points of articulation.  As noted in the prior review, Quicksilver was built on the smaller male base body, which Toy Biz got quite a few uses out of around this time.  He shares his mostly new head sculpt (retooled from the Battle Brigade Archangel) with his variant, and it’s still a pretty good take on the character.  His paint work was obviously the main selling point.  It’s a pretty solid recreation of his classic design.  For true accuracy, it should have the black shorts, but this isn’t horribly inaccurate or anything.  Application is pretty clean for the most part, with minimal slop or bleed over.  Both versions of Quicksilver got the same accessories, a weird machine gun thing (missing from both of mine) and a dust cloud running effect stand, which was re-used from Meanstreak, but was now in a fun translucent grey, which was generally just a little more effective for the appearance of a dust cloud.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My dad had this version of Quicksilver, while I had the other one when I was growing up.  I was always a fan of this one too, but I liked having my own distinct version.  Over the years, though, I’ve been slowly working at getting a full run of the Toy Biz Marvel, and I was able to snag this guy at a toy show, in order to help me towards that goal.  It’s intriguing that Toy Biz did Pietro with both costumes, seeing as he’s exactly the sort of character that you don’t really need multiple figures for, but now, well, now I have both, and I guess that’s kinda cool, right?