Tag Archives: 90s

#3959: Mister Spock

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

MISTER SPOCK

STAR TREK (PLAYMATES)

Back at the beginning of the year, I had a small string of Star Trek reviews, which was certainly notable, because I don’t do a lot of those.  Did you know that I actually planned to go further but got distracted had other things to drop on the schedule? Of course not, because I literally don’t discuss my review schedules with a single other human being, for they are my burden and my burden alone!  Right, so, umm, where’s my burden taking me? Back….to the beginning.  No, really.  It’s “The Cage,” the first Star Trek pilot, which famously has a mostly different cast than the series proper, and which was re-cut into the series proper with a framing device for “The Menagerie.” There was one very notable crossover character between the two casts, Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock, who the network didn’t personally like, but was popular enough with audiences to keep, resulting in one of the franchise’s signature characters!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mister Spock (As Seen in the Pilot Episode “The Cage”!) was released as part of Playmates’ Star Trek line in 1996, as one of four figures based on the show’s pilot episode.  While he’s the least plot relevant of the four, he’s also Spock, so you kind of have to expect it, right?  The figure stands 4 1/2 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation.  Spock’s articulation scheme is the standard layout for the line, so it’s not great, but it’s also not terrible.  Really, it’s just the hips that aren’t ideal.  Spock wasn’t just an excuse to include a recognizable face, he was also a way to include a total parts re-use as well.  His head is the standard Spock, going all the way back to the first classic figure, and it’s been plopped on the head from the “Where No Man Has Gone Before” Kirk packed in with the Shuttlecraft (which was also re-used for Scotty and Sulu from the same episode).  The head’s not exactly a spot-on likeness of Nimoy, but it works fine.  The body’s notably short and squat for Spock, who was otherwise depicted as a bit more lean than Kirk elsewhere in the line.  The color work here more or less matches the rest of the line.  The shades look right, and application’s not too bad.  It’s probably the cleanest paint this face sculpt ever got, so that’s nice.  Spock is packed with a phaser, a communicator, a toolbox, console, and display stand.  The phaser and communicator are the same ones as the standards, which makes them notably incorrect for what Spock would have had in the pilot.  Given new sculpts were created for Pike, it seems odd they weren’t re-used here.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I had Pike as a kid, but never had the others from this set, at least for myself.  My dad had all of them, and this Spock was always my favorite version of the character, so he got borrowed a lot.  Spock was the earliest I tracked down after Pike, picked up loose in the summer of 2018.  He was sans accessories at the time, but I tracked them down after the fact, so here he is!  He’s pretty basic, and ultimately I think it’s kind of a shame he’s the only representation Pike’s crew ended up getting.  Not even a Number One?  Ultimately, I’m glad to have only him rather than none at all.

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.

#3957: Triton

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

TRITON

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOY BIZ)

“Cousin of the mighty Black Bolt, Triton is another powerful member of the Royal Family called the Inhumans! Like his relatives before him, Triton was exposed to the mutagenetic qualities of the Terrigen Mists at an early age. He emerged with aquatic mutations that included dorsal fins, and a scaly green skin which covered his body. Super-strong but unable to breath out of water, Triton uses an intricate infiltration system to respirate when his adventures with the Inhumans bring him to the surface land.”

Hey, remember when I was talking about the Inhumans a couple of weeks ago?  Well, I’m talking about them again, as it seems.  Since the group was introduced in the pages of Fantastic Four, Toy Biz used the FF tie-in line as a way to introduce them to the action figure world as well, putting one of them in per series.  Black Bolt led the charge in Series 1, followed by ol’ stompy boy Gorgon in Series 2.  For Series 3, Toy Biz went with the aquatic guy.  No, not Aquaman.  Or Sub-Mariner.  Or Abe Sapien.  It’s the other guy, Triton.  You know, the one what hangs out with the Inhumans?  That’s the one.  Let’s look at Triton.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Triton was released in Series 3 of Toy Biz’s Fantastic Four tie-in line, which contains a whopping *three* underwater guys.  That’s crazy.  He slightly predates the character’s appearance in the show, but not by quite as much as the other two.  It does, however, mean that he’s not *quite* on model for the character’s animated appearances, but he’s not super far off either, so it’s not a big deal.  The figure stands about 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  Generally, it’s the basic set-up, but he’s got an action feature in the shoulders, which doesn’t eliminate their movement, but does make it a little bit…wonky?  His sculpt’s okay.  It was new to him, but got re-used later down the line for an aquatic Spidey variant.  It seems maybe a touch bulky for Triton, especially when compared to the far more reserved builds of Black Bolt and Gorgon, who are traditionally a little bigger than he is.  But, there’s a lot of fun texture detail work, which is always fun.  The webbed hands, though not accurate to the show, and an incredibly neat detail, which I do quite love.  Triton’s color work is basic, but does what it needs to, replicating that purple/green combo that makes you think he might be a villain even though he’s actually not.  Triton was packed with two accessories: a shark and a sea trumpet.  The shark has a spring-loaded jaw, which I do rather love, but it’s also got no real way at all to actually interact with Triton at all.  The trumpet is at least shaped in such a way that you can loop it over his hand so he can hold it.  Both accessories feel a bit more Sub-Mariner than they do Triton, but neither is a bad piece or anything.  He’s also got a “swimming” feature; squeezing his legs makes his arms swing downward at the shoulders.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

During our many runs to Ageless Heroes, a comic store near my parents’ house that closed down in 1999, my dad got most of the Inhumans, which included Triton.  I didn’t get one at the time, but I always liked the figure, so when I found him amongst the piles of other Toy Biz figures at the KB liquidation center in 2003, he was the one I absolutely made sure to grab.  Though I’ve never had much attachment to the character, I nevertheless made a lot of use of the figure, and I still do really think he’s quite a nifty figure.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0052: Domino

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

DOMINO

X-FORCE (TOY BIZ)

It’s finally Friday, which is great, but also feels like it took more than a week to get here, because that’s just the world we live in these days.  Let’s jump back to when it wasn’t the world we lived in with another funky Flashback Friday Figure Addendum, this time based on Domino!

Grrrrr! 90s! Everything had to be soooooo X-Treme! And no one was more X-Treme than the X-Men! Well, okay, actually, that’s not true. There was one team than was more X-Treme, by design. They were the X-Force and they were super hardcore 90s. So hard. One of their more prominent members was Domino, who had luck based powers. You know, like a domino!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Domino was released in Series 6 of ToyBiz’s X-Force line. It’s surprising to see one of the team’s higher tier members not being released until one of the last few series of the line, but, hey, it was the 90s, and we were in the worst dregs of boys thinking girl toys were icky, so…..yeah. The figure stands 5 inches tall and has 9 points of articulation. While she was fortunate enough not to be saddled with the dreaded v-style hip joints that plagued many female figures of the time, she’s completely lacking in neck articulation, and for some strange reason her elbow joints are just simple cut joints. This ends up severely limiting what can be done with the figure, which is quite a bummer. Domino featured an all-new sculpt (though it would see a couple of re-paints later on down the line). It’s…passable. They’ve done a fairly decent job of capturing the design from the comics, which, it should be noted, is her second, non-Liefeld-designed costume. It’s got all the requisite buckles, pouches, shoulder pads, and even a weird head thing! The proportions aren’t the worst thing ever and she has one of the better female faces of the time. That said, she’s rather boxy, especially in her lower half, and I’m really not sure what’s going on with the straps on her torso. They certainly can’t be comfortable configured that way. Also, she seems to have lost a row of abdominal muscles, which ends up making the legs look way too long. The paintwork on the figure is alright. Nothing amazing, but the colors are pretty good matches for the look in the comics, and there isn’t any substantial slop or bleed over. Domino originally included a set of gun attachments, which hooked into her legs. Yeah. Not really sure why they did that, since she just held the guns in her hands in the comics, but hey, whatever. Mine didn’t have them anyway.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Domino was another figure that I fished out of a box of loose figures at one of the dealer’s tables at this past Balticon. I was never really into X-Force growing up, and Domino never played a prominent role in the X-Men cartoon, so I didn’t really have a reason to get this figure while it was still new. But, it was a dollar. It’s not ToyBiz’s best work, but it isn’t atrocious. 

First and foremost, before getting into a discussion of the actual written review, I feel the need to bring up that I’ve somehow reviewed *four* Domino figures here?  I know that because this was the first one, and I had to scroll back through the other three to get to it.  I don’t even really like Domino, so that just really feels absurd.  For comparison, that’s one more Domino review than I have Longshot reviews, and she’s literally just him plus guns.  Anyway, I’m getting sidetracked.

Generally, I think I did alright with the review.  My points still more or less stand, so I can dig it.  It does include a slight factual gaffe on my part, which is linked to the main thing I’m addressing here anyway, which is the accessories.  Domino included two guns which, contrary to what my original review stated, she *could* hold in her hands.  Not very well, but still.  She also got two weird spring-loaded missiles, which sort of kind of sit in the guns and can “launch” but not very well either.  They also have pegs to be stored on her legs, which is where my confusion about the guns attaching to her legs came from.  In my defense, I was working from just the image on the back of the box at the time.  But, now I’ve fixed it, and that’s the most important part!

#3956: Wampa & Luke Skywalker

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

WAMPA & LUKE SKYWALKER

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Sometimes, your sci-fi adventure series needs cool, original monsters, and sometimes, it really just needs a pretty standard issue sort of monster that everyone understands.  The latter is well represented in Star Wars’s Wampas, a race of Yeti/Abominable Snowman types that are a pretty natural fit if you’re confined to an ice planet.  Hey, what’s the antagonistic force here? Oh, yeah, it’s exactly what you’d expect it to be!  Solid.  No notes.  The Wampa’s a good choice for toy coverage, since it’s a good basic design, from a memorable and punchy sort of scene from the movie, and also pairs well with a Luke Skywalker variant, as is the case today! 

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The Wampa and Luke Skywalker were one of the 1998 Creature Sets in Kenner’s Star Wars: Power of the Force II line.  It followed up on the Empire-inspired Luke and Tauntaun set from the prior year, and also paired off with the similarly Empire-inspired Han and Tauntaun set from the same year.

WAMPA

Making his debut in the revived line was the Wampa.  He’d shown up in the vintage line as his own stand-alone creature release, but this one started the trend of packing him with a Luke figure, which would become the standard approach going forward.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and he has a rather minuscule 3 points of articulation.  There’s the shoulders and the waist, and that’s it.  And even the shoulders are kind of spotty, since the right one is just a cut joint, to allow for removal like at the end of his scene in Empire, and the left has a spring-loaded swiping feature that’s a bit limiting.  So, not a lot of posing is what I’m really getting at here.  The sculpt here is rather big and imposing, but also rather on the soft side in terms of detailing.  Though rather cartoony, the original Kenner figure had some pretty sharp detailing, especially on the fur.  This one, less so.  He’s at least a bit more accurate to the Wampa prop from the movie, or at least what we can see of it.  His paint work does the usual Wampa thing of being inexplicably heavy on the accenting, making him look like he’s got splotches of something brown in his fur.  Not the best look.  The rest of the work is fine, though, so it’s not all bad.

LUKE SKYWALKER

This was the third time Luke showed up in his Hoth gear in this line.  There was the single and the one with the Tauntaun, both of which are his pre-attack look.  This one’s the only post attack one, which makes it a bit more unique, as he was the first of his kind.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and has 6 points of articulation, which may seem normal, but it’s slightly skewed.  See, he doesn’t get waist movement, but he *does* get an articulated face covering, so that it can swivel to look like he’s hanging upside down.  It might be more practical if you actually had something to hang him from, but it’s a cool touch nevertheless.  Otherwise, his sculpt is rather similar to the other two Hoth Lukes, as you might expect.  He’s a little sharper on the detailing, though, and also has the expected changes, with the removal of the goggles, and the addition of the scarring to his face.  In general, I’m a fan of the new set-up.  The paint is again very similar to the others, which makes sense from a consistency standpoint.  He’s packed with his lightsaber, which is the same standard one used multiple times throughout the line.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I remember the Tauntaun set at retail, but this one kind of slipped under my radar as a kid, displaced by the Saga era release.  It wound up being the second to last of the Creature sets I located (I still haven’t actually gotten the last one), pulled out of a much larger collection of Power of the Force figures.  As with so many of these things I’ve been reviewing lately, it’s been sitting unopened for a lengthy amount of time, but I finally did it in preparation for this review.  Hooray for me!  The Wampa’s fine.  He works as a display, but I can’t say he’s thrilling.  The Luke’s actually really nice, and the best of the three Hoth Lukes, so that’s a quiet victory there.

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

#3953: Super-Skrull

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

SUPER-SKRULL

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOY BIZ)

“By the order of his Emperor, a select Skrull warrior was bionically re-engineered to become the living weapon in a plot of revenge against the world’s greatest super-hero team. Through advanced technological means, the Super-Skrull was granted the ability to perfectly mimic each of the powers of the Fantastic Four! Sworn to bestow a crushing defeat upon Mister Fantastic, The Thing, The Invisible Woman, and the Human Torch, Super-Skrull seizes the combined force of their awesome powers, and throws it back at them with a bitter vengeance.”

The shape-shifting aliens the Skrulls are one of Lee and Kirby’s earliest additions to the Marvel Universe after launching the Fantastic Four, appearing in the second issue of the series.  Just over a year later, in issue #18, they would get an upgrade in the form of Kl’rt, the Super-Skrull, a Skrull warrior imbued with the powers of all four members of the titular team.  He’s been perhaps the most notable and prominent recurring Skrull since his introduction, facing down not only the FF, but a fair number of other Marvel heroes along the way, and even becoming less antagonistic from time to time.  He’s had a handful of figures over the years, the first of which came from Toy Biz in the ‘90s.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Super Skrull was released in Series 3 of Toy Biz’s Fantastic Four line, designed to tie-in with the show of the same era.  Super-Skrull appeared in the show’s first season, sporting his classic design, and this figure serves as a pretty close adaptation of that set-up.  The figure stands just over 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  He’s largely got the standard set-up for movement, but the right arm just gets a swivel at the elbow, rather than a hinge, due to how his action feature works.  His sculpt was unique to him.  It’s very…wide.  Admittedly, that’s true to his Season 1 design, which was itself true to his ‘80s/early ‘90s depictions.  It’s certainly not a bad sculpt, and feels pretty in line with the character. The head’s suitably angry and sporting that signature wrinkly chin, and the arms do an okay job of selling the combined powers of Reed, Ben, and Johnny.  His right arm sports an action feature that extends the fist outward when the button on his shoulder is pressed.  It’s the same basic gimmick used by Doom, but it makes a bit more sense here.  Honestly, it’s a bit odd it never got used for Reed, since it’s his power it’s meant to replicate, but that’s a whole other thing.  His color work is basic.  It’s bright, and again matches the Season 1 look.  I’ve never been crazy about the blue used on the cowl and mid-section of the torso; I definitely prefer the usual black there, and I don’t feel it’s a great contrast here.  Otherwise, though, things work pretty well.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Super-Skrull is another purchase courtesy of the one single trip I got to take to the KB liquidation center with my Grandmother, back in the early ‘00s.  I recall this one being one I was particularly excited to find, because he wasn’t one you saw nearly as often as the rest of the figures.  He’s definitely based on a very specific incarnation of the character, but it works, and I think he results in a pretty clean, pretty fun little figure.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0051: Firelord

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

FIRELORD

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOY BIZ)

I started the week with som Toy Biz Fantastic Four, why not wrap the week with a revisit to the line?  That’s what a good Flashback Friday Figure Addendum is all about!  So, let’s return to a guy who’s probably not cracking top three on Galactus’ Heralds, Firelord!

“Once a herald of the world-devouring Galactus, Firelord was granted absolute control over all flames by his former master. Now freed from servitude, he wanders the spaceways, using his cosmic power to take what he desires! Unprincipled and mercenary, Firelord conceals his true demeanor beneath a facade of nobility and culture, but always displays his blazing abilities for all to marvel at…and fear!”

After Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introduced the concept of Galactus, and in turn his herald Silver Surfer, and then almost immediately dismantling it by having the Surfer removed from the role of herald at the end of that very story, it seemed Galactus was in need of a new herald to keep things running. The first replacement for Surfer was Air-Walker, a Xandarian who’s first appearance was not even the man himself, but a robotic duplicate, created by Galactus after the original died. The next herald after Air-Walker was another Xandarian (who was actually a friend of Air-Walker pre-herald transformation), Firelord. Firelord would follow in the path set by Silver Surfer, eventually asking to be released from his duties as herald, and forging out on his own. He’s remained a minor recurring character on the cosmic side of things at Marvel. As a herald of Galactus, he got himself a spot in Toy Biz’s FF line in the ’90s. I’m taking a look at that figure today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Firelord was released in Series 2 of the Fantastic Four line. Unlike Thanos, who was notably never in the cartoon that the line was tying into, Firelord actually got a brief appearance on the show. Not that it really amounted to much, since it was little more than a cameo, but hey, there it was. Of note, he was actually voiced by Alan Oppenheimer, better known as the voice of Skeletor. Fun times. Until his Minimate release, this was Firelord’s only action figure. The figure stands about 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation. He sports a sculpt that remained unique to this release. It’s a pretty decent one. Nothing overly showy or anything. Generally it just sticks to the basics, but it’s good at that. He’s got some minor detailing for the flame effects, which are a little on the soft side, but get the point across. The strongest portion of the sculpt is definitely the head, which sticks closer to the comics interpretation of the character, with his rather other-worldly cheek bones and all. Firelord’s paint work is alright. It’s not quite as bold and differentiated as some of his colors tended to be in the comics, but the general look again works pretty well, apart from some slight muddying of the colors without any real clear outlines. That said, it’s not terrible. Not terrible at all. Firelord was packed with his flaming staff, dubbed “Cosmic Flame Launcher” on the package. It’s in two parts, and one part launched like a missile out of the other. I’ve only actually got the missile part anymore, which is the half that looks more convincingly like his staff anyway.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve mentioned before on the site about Ageless Heroes, a comic store nearby that had a rather huge going out of business sale when I was between six and seven. It served as a pretty sizable boon to my 5 inch Marvel collection as a kid. Firelord here was one of the figures from that boon. He wasn’t actually bought as Firelord, since I didn’t really know the character, but instead got initial use as a Jim Hammond Human Torch. I did eventually learn who Firelord was, courtesy of a copy of his appearance in Uncanny Origins, which I got from Ageless Heroes’ back-issues, in fact. He’s not a perfect figure, or anything, but he’s certainly one I got a lot of use out of as a kid.

That review was from 2022, making it an astoundingly new review for a revisit.  Curiously, it managed to only *just* beat the Legends Firelord’s release, so I still reviewed them chronologically.  We won’t bring up that the Minimate should be between the two of them, though, because it makes me look bad, and I don’t do that around here.  Never.  It hasn’t been enough time for me to really change my opinion on the figure, so I shan’t.  I will, however, show off the newly replaced other half of his staff, because there it is!  It’s real bulky, and pretty much impossible for him to hold and seems needlessly complicated, but there it is.

#3952: Ronto with Jawa

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

RONTO with JAWA

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

Given it was the line running when the movies were released, Kenner’s Power of the Force II makes up most of the admittedly pretty small selection of toys based on the Star Wars Special Editions.  Mostly, the focus was on the new CGI creations, with a specific focus on the new creatures the movies had to offer.  Some of the creatures were new just replacing pre-existing models, and could serve as updates to older figures in a pinch, but there were also completely new ones, which includes today’s focus, the Ronto!

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

The Ronto was released in 1997 as a later addition to the first year of Star Wars: Power of the Force II’s Creature sets.  As with the other two sets from that year, the set’s based on A New Hope’s Special Edition, pairing off one of the new CGI creations with a standard figure, in this case a Jawa.

The Ronto was, as noted in the intro, completely crafted for the Special Editions, added to the background of the Mos Eisely Spaceport scene.  It was modeled on one of ILM’s Brachiosaurus models from Jurassic Park, and was nicknamed “Bronto” during production.  George Lucas, in one of his most Lucas-y moments, just dropped the “B” off the name for the official name.  The figure stands about 9 inches tall and has moving legs.  The neck joint is connected to the rear leg, so you can make it “move” that way.  You can also move the ears and horns, for a little bit of variety.  The sculpt is…well, it’s a dinosaur with a different head, which is appropriate to the source material, so good for them.  The sculpt has a nice selection of texturing on the skin, which gives it a realistic vibe.  The color work on the figure has a fair bit of accenting, which helps to showcase the strengths of the sculpt.

Included with the Ronto is a Jawa.  This was the third of four Jawas released in this line.  He’s very similar to the carded Jawas from the main line, with the single hip joint and the light piping.  Scaling wise, he’s right between the two of them, and his sculpt also sort of feels like an averaging of the two sculpts.  It’s a little lighter on the texturing than those two, but still gets a lot of respectable work, especially given the smaller scale of the figure.  The coloring of the figure is a little more on the washed out side, landing closest to the smaller of the two standard Jawas.  It also means we get two of each shade, if you’ve got all four, which is cool.  The Jawa is packed with a small blaster pistol, which was missing from mine, a fact I can definitively confirm because I opened it just prior to taking the pictures for this review.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I didn’t buy this set new, because I honestly don’t remember it existing when it was new. It wasn’t until going back to look more into the line as an adult that it even really came across my radar.  I ended up snagging it during a Star Wars Day sale at Cosmic Comix about 5 years or so back.  As you may have figured out from the main body of the review, it’s been sitting on the shelf unopened for all of that time, as I only just opened it the night before writing this review.  The Ronto’s a cool, big creature thing, which is nifty, and the Jawa is different, but still a very fun additional Jawa for the line-up.

#3949: The Thing II

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

THE THING II

FANTASTIC FOUR (TOY BIZ)

“Bombarded by cosmic rays during an exploration in deep space, Ben Grimm’s body underwent an extraordinary transformation. His strength, endurance and durability were boosted to super-human levels and his skin became an orange colored, rock-like armor. As a member of the Fantastic Four, The Thing is a sworn protector against villainy and threats of conquest, but his monsterish appearance has always remained his greatest enemy. Often feeling the need to disguise himself when entering public, Grimm’s crude camouflage poorly covers the heart and soul of a true, blue-eyed hero.”

While the team has always shared equal footing within the confines of the book, and have always been equally billed, there’s no denying that there’s an unprecedented break-out character from the quartet that is the Fantastic Four, and that’s Benjamin J. Grimm, the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing.  Curiously, when Toy Biz put together their line based on the team, Ben was, through odd circumstances, *not* the first to double up on figures, as both of the Storm siblings beat him to the punch.  But, he was the first to get a properly planned variant, and also one that made a good degree of sense.  Since Ben’s rocky-form can’t turn on and off like the others (most of the time, anyway), he frequently had to hide himself away under a baseball cap, a colored hoody, and a pair of Aviators a trench coat, glasses, and hat.  It’s a signature look that’s been adapted a number of times, including as part of the very first Toy Biz line, which I’m looking at today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Thing II was released in Series 3 of Toy Biz’s Fantastic Four line.  He was the only member of the team present in this particular line-up, which was otherwise a much wackier collection of characters.  The figure is just shy of 5 inches tall and he has 9 points of articulation.  His bulky stature means even with the standard articulation, he’s not exactly agile, but you can get some subtle variations of his standing around pose.  While it would seem like a great time to re-use parts from the first version, this figure sported an entirely new sculpt.  The line was generally a loose tie-in to the show running at the time, but Ben marks a departure from “loose,” being a pretty spot-on recreation of his animation model from the show.  Of course, it’s his Season 1 model, which was far more cartoony and goofy, and stands out more from the rest of the line, and which was phased out of the show in the same year this figure was released.  It does okay by the design, though, and certainly captures its more bold line-work and cleaner rock structures.  It’s certainly a more huggable Thing.  The figure comes out of the box wrapped in a cloth coat.  It’s a very thin material, and also not *technically* designed for removal, since it’s tied shut with a very tight knot.  You can remove it, though that certainly makes it more prone to damage.  The figure’s paint work is fairly light, with just the eyes and shorts, which appear to be the same two colors.  It’s perfectly fine it its application.  The shade of orange plastic used for the bulk of the body does seem a touch pale, but it’s at least a bit better than the Marvel Super Heroes version.  Ben is packed with his hat and sunglasses, which are specially molded to fit over his head.  They do okay, and round out his disguised look nicely.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Since I came into the line a little bit after launch, this was my first figure of the Thing.  Mine, of course, immediately had the coat torn off and thrown aside, since I really just wanted the basic figure.  When my Grandmother took me to the KB Toys Liquidation Center in Delaware about a decade later, they still had a pile of this guy, so I got myself a second one, who has kept his jacket on the whole time, so it’s a little nicer.  He’s a very specific take on the character, and it’s interesting to have such a cartoon-specific version of the character, given there aren’t matching figures of the rest of the team.  He’s not incredibly playable, all things told, but he does make a neat enough display piece.

Flashback Friday Figure Addendum #0050: Cantina at Mos Eisley

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

CANTINA AT MOS EISLEY with SANDTROOPER

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (HASBRO)

Hey, who’s ready for a thematic tie-in?  I sure am! Yesterday, I looked at one of two cardboard playsets released during Power of the Force II.  The first released of those two actually was a more direct callback to the original Kenner run, a Mos Eisley Cantina, and I’ve looked at that one, albeit tangentially, via the figure it was later released at retail with following a run as a mail-away, who I reviewed back in 2020, making this a Flashback Friday Figure Addendum, following up on the Sandtrooper!

“Their remote location makes the spaceports of Tatooine havens for the varied masses from across the galaxy. At the seedy Mos Eisley spaceport, this variety is more than evident at the main hangout, Chalmun’s Cantina. The most loathsome of Mos Eisley’s population can regularly be found there, including imperial sandtroopers, who are deployed by the Empire to quell outbursts with brutal efficiency. In the days before the Galactic Empire, the spaceport of Mos Espa hosted a similar reputation as a “wretched hive of scum and villainy.” From the outdoor markets to the junk shops – overseen by the gambling crimelords, the Hutts – Mos Espa was a place where a nine-year old boy could learn the ways of the universe.”

Hey, remember how I’ve got all these Power of the Force figures I can review? Great, I don’t have to remind you why I’m doing this review, then. I’ve looked at all manner of Stormtrooper variants, many of them from this very line, but today I’m kind of doubling back and looking at a variant of a variant. Oh man, how crazy is that?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

The Sandtrooper was released in 1998, accompanying a 3D display diorama of the Mos Eisley Cantina. He was the actual figure used to sell a bunch of cardboard, wrapped in cardboard. Neat trick, I suppose. We had gotten a standard, run of the mill Sandtrooper in the main line, but this one aimed to be different enough to make collector’s buy. Guess it worked. According to expanded universe materials, this guy actually has a name. He’s Davin Felth, the trooper who says “Look sir, droids!” while they’re searching on Tatooine. And now you know that. Don’t you feel like your life has meaning now? The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 6 points of articulation. He uses the same head, torso, and pelvis as the single-carded Sandtrooper, but gets a new set of arms and legs. It’s still the super goofy PotF2 trooper build, but by this time things were starting to be a little bit more toned down. Those arms and legs are definitely less bulked up compared to prior troopers. His pose is also a more neutral one, but, in an interesting turn of events, he’s not really able to do anything but hold that one neutral pose. He looks like he’s standing guard (which makes sense for the playset he came with), meaning he’s designed to hold his weapon in a non-battle stance. He can’t actually hold it by the handle, due to the relative posing of his arms. The paint on this guy is also toned down from the prior Sandtrooper. He’s still got a little bit of weathering, but it’s nowhere near as intense. His pauldron has changed colors to mark a change in rank, with it being white instead of orange. For some reason, the black section has also changed to a light grey, which is an odd choice. Moving further down, the figure has also lost the black detailing at the elbows that prior troopers had, which does look a little weird. The Sandtrooper was packed with a blaster rifle and a patrol droid (missing from mine) which plugged into his back.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As part of my goal of getting all the figures from the PotF2 line, I’m having to track down some of the more odd-ball releases as well, which includes this guy. I ended up getting ahold of one from a loose collection that was traded into All Time, though he was missing the droid piece. He’s not a bad figure. I actually like him quite a bit, certainly more than I was expecting to.

That’s a May 2020 review up there, meaning I wrote this review in the midst of the pandemic shutdown, when I had a *lot* of reviewing time on my hands.  My notable backlog of Power of the Force figures was certainly an asset during that stretch of time.  I definitely got a little more quippy during that period, for sure.  Hey, comedy gets you through it, I guess.  The review of the figure holds up fine, so no issues there.  Pandemic Ethan knew what he was talking about.  The figure proper was missing his Scanning Droid, which I have subsequently tracked down.  It’s a pretty fun piece, and it plugs into the spot originally meant for his survival pack, which is a clever re-use of the spot.

The main omission, of course, was the actual playset.  It’s similar in concept to the Jabba’s Palace, and has a similar footprint.  The exact layout’s a bit different, though, with walls that fully enclose it, and a lack of raised platforms, instead placing the emphasis on the central bar, as well as the two included booths with tables.  I think it ends up working a bit better in terms of potential use with the figures, and there’s a general feeling of better stability to the whole thing, which I do really like.

#3948: Jabba’s Palace

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

JABBA’S PALACE with HAN SOLO in CARBONITE

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (HASBRO)

“As one of a species known to live for at least one thousand years, Jabba the Hutt had plenty of time to build up his ill-gotten empire. No other crime lord lived in such luxurious, palatial surroundings, where his every need was immediately attended to by members of his court and a large collection of slaves. The repulsive, slug-like Hutt had his fingers in just about every unseemly activity known, from elaborate smuggling operations to his early days on Tatooine when gambling on Podraces was as big as the sport itself.”

When the original Star Wars line launched under Kenner, they had one proper playset, based on the Death Star, but in order to further expand the line at a smaller budget, they also partnered with Sears to offer another playset, based on the Mos Eisley Cantina, which, to save on tooling costs, was made out of card stock.  This was repeated for Empire, which saw a similarly card stock Cloud City playset.  By the time of Jedi, they didn’t need to concern themselves with tooling costs as much, so no card stock sets were crafted for that one.  When bringing the line back in the ‘90s, Kenner/Hasbro went back to that particular well, though, and we got a couple of new ones, including a Jedi-based one, Jabba’s Palace.

THE SET ITSELF

Jabba’s Palace was released as part of the “3-D Display Diorama” sub-line of Star Wars: Power of the Force II in 1998, officially under the Hasbro brand, not the Kenner one.  Included in the set was the fold-out Palace playset, an exclusive Han Solo figure, and some associated accessories.

The main set is, as noted, made from card board.  It’s based on the throne room of Jabba’s Palace as seen in the movie’s opening sequences.  Or, at least an approximation of it, which lets you get all of the main story focus spots into one main area.  The set has a footprint that’s about 25 inches long, and includes Jabba’s throne, the grate in front of it that leads to the Rancor’s pit, the entryway with the stairs, and the trophy wall that held Han in his carbonite slab.  The whole thing folds out without too much trouble, and tabs together without much issue.  The printing is generally pretty nice, and there’s a respectable amount of simulated texturing.  The only real downside is that some of the raised elements don’t hold weight especially well.  They do overall better than expected, especially Jabba’s throne, but the spot where the carbonite slab should go isn’t very good at supporting that weight.  Still, there’s plenty of space for spreading out the many denizens of the palace released over the course of the line.

The included exclusive Han Solo marks the second time the line did Han in Carbonite, following up on a solo release in ’96.  This one was based more specifically on his look immediately after being unfrozen, when he’s all…damp.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 8 points of articulation.  He uses the same legs as the last version, but is otherwise a unique sculpt.  It’s certainly different.  Is it better?  In some ways.  They did at least actually get his shirt right this time around, and the added movement on the elbows is very handy.  The head’s not really any more Ford resemblant than the early release figures, but he’s got the wet and sweaty slicked back hair, which is accurate to the scene and also hides the likeness a touch.  I’m not sure exactly what’s going on with his facial expression, but it’s at least different from the other Han figures.  The paint only exaggerates the oddness of the face, with those strange eyebrows.  The rest of the paint is decent enough.  Han is packed with a pair of manacles, as well as a version of the carbonite block that has a spot where Han was thawed out.  The figure fits well in the spot, but there’s no real way for it to stay upright with him in it, which is annoying.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This is one of those sets I remember seeing a few times as a kid.  I don’t know that I fully understood what it was, and I mostly just remember the Han with carbonite.  Since I already had the standard one, I didn’t see much need for this one at the time.  Obviously, my opinion on that shifted, since I, you know, own one and all.  The Palace is a pretty simple thing, but I think it really works well as a backdrop for the figures.  Han’s fine, but definitely goofy.  Still, not a bad set, all things considered.

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.